Casting Shadows
by Outis aka nobody
Summary: A stranger has come to town but is he freind or foe? The Loonatics will have to find out and while trying to answer that question they might find others. Others that they might not want answered at all, But can they afford not to? Light TechxRev & LexixOC
1. Shadows Strike

**Hello. Guess who's back already. It is time for another story. I am hoping to make this one better than the last (which some of you might find hard to believe). I will be focusing more on accuracy than on speed this time (meaning I hope to have less errors in this story and, consequently, that might mean the updates are less frequent, but I feel it is necessary, all those errors I had last time were driving me crazy). Ok let us go forth.**

_**I own none of the LU characters. They belong to the WB Corporation**_

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**Casting Shadows**

It was a dark rainy night in Acmetropolis. The rain was coming down in heavy sheets and there was an occasional flash of lightning, followed closely by the sharp crack of thunder that reverberated throughout the sky. It was late and all the buildings were empty and dark…all but one.

The very prestigious law firm of _Clinton&Dole&Perot_ had one single light on in one single office (it is worth noting that the _Perot_ section of the sign was being replaced with the name _Hail_). The sign and the light in the top-most office went unnoticed to everyone at this time of night…all except a shadowy figure on the rooftop across the street. The figure stood there without giving a thought to the pouring rain. The figure's was only concerned with the office and it's inhabitant. It stood staring through the large windows that make up one entire wall of the room. Suddenly a flash of lightning…then the figure is gone. Vanished as if it had never been there at all.

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In side the office there sat a middle-aged man with thinning gray hair. It was 58 year-old Ronald Hail, the newest partner to the firm (even though he had been working there for many, many years). He sat working diligently on some case files that had been presented to him earlier that day. His secretary was on vacation so he had to do most of that sort of work himself.

He sat reading a case file intently, then put it down when he was finished. He leaned back in his chair and glanced at his watch. _9:48. Dame it's getting late._ He considered calling it a night but decided against it._ One more won't kill me _he thought as he picked up another folder. He had worked long and hard to earn the position he now occupied, and he wanted to make sure that his new partners knew they had made the right choice in picking him to replace Mr. Perot after his retirement

He began to skim the file over when suddenly the hairs on the back of his neck began to stand on end and he felt goose bumps appear on his bare fore arms (he had the sleeves of his shirt rolled up to get them out of the way). He slowly began to get a tingling sensation in the back of his head...like a strange itch. He slowly looked up and saw the silhouette of a person standing in front of his door. _I didn't hear any footsteps,_ he thought _I didn't even hear the door._

"Hello…can I help you with something?" he asked in a polite manner. _There's no reason to be rude...yet._ The figure moved in a little closer. Ronald only had his small desk-lamp on so the stranger was still shrouded in complete darkness.

"Hello." The figure repeated the greeting. The voice was low and rough, yet it still had a mysteriously smooth and even charming effect. Despite it's rather harsh sound Ronald could tell that this man was speaking in a calm subdued tone. "I'm here to discuss you former associate, Mr. Miles Standish." Ronald tensed slightly in spite of himself. _Dame…hope he didn't notice that._

"What exactly would you like to discuses?" he asked the stranger calmly.

"Mainly your association with him…and his death." His answer was smooth and emotionless. Ronald visibly winced at hearing this.

"Ah yes. Terrible business that…but listen might we talk about this another time?" He pleaded. He did not have a very good feeling about this situation. He knew he had to be the only person left in the building, and, from first impression, this was not the kind of man you want to be left alone with.

"Afraid not. It is rather important." The stranger continued in the same monotone voice.

"Might I know who I am speaking to then?"

"That's none of your concern at the moment." The stranger's cold, emotionless tone was beginning to make Ronald feel a little uncomfortable. The stranger walked into the room a little more and continued. "It's too bad about how he died…Miles I mean. I understand he had a very promising career ahead of him." Ronald could not see the strangers face but he got the feeling he was being stared at intently…as if being appraised or scrutinized.

"Yes it was too bad, and he did have a good career going." Ronald went along with the stranger. _Let's just see what he's getting at._

"In fact he was in the running to fill the place of Mr. Perot at this firm wasn't he. In the running against you." He said this now with the slightest inflection of friendliness in his voice.

"Yes…he was." Ronald replied cautiously. _No need to get alarmed yet. It was in all the newspapers after all._

"So I guess his dying was a good thing…for you at least." Ronald looked at him a little crossly. The stranger moved over to another side of the office and leaned against the wall. "I even heard that they were originally going to choose him for the partnership position, but since he died you got the job by default." That sent some serious red flags with Ronald.

"Where did you hear that exactly?" he asked while trying to maintain a calm, cool composure.

"A little birdie told me, a birdie by the name of Sal Moss. You know him don't you." He put his hand on his chin in thought. "In fact he was one of your clients not to long ago. Yeah, he was up on attempted murder charges. Then you **requested **to be put as his defense attorney and got it down to assault. He ended up coming out on parole in only a week or so right?"

"Yes that is correct." Ronald was getting the feeling that this man knew more than he was telling, and that he was being toyed with. He did not like that.

"What I can't understand is how a low profile thug like Sal was able to hire one of the best lawyers in the city and still have enough left to make bail."

"I offered my services for free." Ronald replied as he tried to figure out what this man was after.

"Ah yes…that would explain it I guess. Anyway, it is too bad about Miles. Brake failure, that's some way to go." He shook his head with apparent sadness. "And brake failure due to neglect…that's just too bad."

"Yes it is, but these things happen." Ronald replied nonchalantly.

"I talked to his family, you know. His wife said he always took good care of his car."

"I guess he made a mistake of some sort."

"Yeah I guess…" the stranger moved off the wall and moved back to the middle of the room. Once there he began to pace as he spoke. "I just can't help but feel bad for his family. Wife…three kids…forth one on the way…really could have used the extra money that job was going to bring in. Coarse, I don't need to tell you that…you met his family after all." Ronald was getting seriously suspicious now. _How dose he know all these things? And what is he trying to get? _He stopped pacing to look at Ronald. "But I suppose you deserved the job more in the end. After all you have been here a lot longer than he was. You worked your way up over the years to the position you got to…then this young upstart shoots past you and leaves you in the dust. Then to hear that their going to give him the job that obviously belonged to you…must have tore you up inside." He finished by getting right in front of the desk. Despite what he was saying, his voice never moved far from his calm, smooth, subtl tone. Ronald could still not see his face but was able to tell he was clad entirely in black, also there seemed to be a faint…crackling emanating from him, but he could not dwell on his appearances at the moment.

"Well it did disappoint me to hear I was not going to get the job, but Miles was a good man."

"Still it's a good thing he died and you got the job instead of him." The stranger stated bluntly.

"I would not have put it that way…" Ronald said. He was not stupid. Years of being a lawyer had taught him notice when someone was fishing for information, and he was not about to take the bait until he knew what this man was trying to do, and how capable he was at obtaining his goal.

"Really? Because that's not what I heard. I heard that you were quite…bitter about the whole thing."

"You heard that from who?" Ronald was getting more and more threatened by this man but held his tongue for now. He had always been a cautions man, and now was not the time to change that.

"Our friend Sal. We had a long discussion actually. I found out you two knew each other quite well…isn't that right Ronald?"

"He was my client." He stated plainly, but his face had significantly darkened and, much to his chagrin, beads of sweat had appeared on his forehead.

"Yes, but he said you got to know him even more than what was required to serve that purpose. He said you even hired him to do an odd-job for you…a **very odd**-job." _That's it,_ Ronald thought. He slowly and quietly slid his hand into his drawer and took hold of the pistol he kept stored there…after all he was a cautious man.

"Oh really. He told you that."

"Yes. A job that was quiet successful I might add, but I don't have to tell you that now do I." He leaned forward on the desk.

"What exactly is it you want?" Ronald asked again, only this time more firmly. He was done playing these games.

"You caught me. I am here for a purpose." The stranger then moved around the desk as he continued to talk. "I'm actually here on business…this is apart of my job I mean."

"What exactly **is **your job then?" Ronald asked as his grip tightened on the pistol.

"I fix things." The stranger stated simply. "When something goes wrong, I fix it, so to speak. I'm here now to finish fixing something."

"And what would that be?" Ronald asked. He moved his chair so he could look at the strangers face, but it remained shrouded in darkness. This new position also made it possible to keep his gun hidden and still have a clear shot at the man.

"Miles death. I'm trying to…make sure justice is done." He was only two or three feet away from Ronald now. He was a physically imposing man…tall, maybe 6ft'6in, and slim for his height. Ronald was not the type of man to be intimidated easily though.

"And how do you plan on doing that?"

"Well it's actually turning into a two step process. At first I thought I might have to only talk with one person…Sal, but once I met him he started singing…after a little persuasion. He told me all about the deal you two had." The stranger now talked in a confident voice and his movements were very relaxed.

Ronald was now very tense and was sweating profusely. He tightly clutched the pistol in one hand and the chair arm with the other to keep them from shaking. "And what **deal** would that be?" He asked rather tentatively. He was quickly moving down a road that was not going anywhere he wanted to go.

"Ok, I'll explain it to you. It's not a very complicated plan, but still a good one. You agreed to help get Sal off the hook with the law and in return…you got him to take out your competition." Ronald's face was now twisted into one of shock and horror. _How dose he…Sal that idiot. Well there's no other way out of this that I can see. Just have to wait for the right moment now. _"Any way, Sal and I reached an understanding, and now that just leaves you."

"So are you going to take me to jail…or just kill me?" Ronald now asked bluntly. _Subtly be dammed. Let's just got this over with._

"I'm not going to the police. That's not my style, and nether is kill you. You can ask Sal that...when you see him." Ronald now looked surprised. _Then what the hell is he planning on doing…doesn't matter I'm going to kill him anyway._"I suppose it's time I get the job done…it is getting late after all." The stranger looked at a watch he had on his wrist to emphasise his point. After he finished doing this, the stranger moved forward toward Ronald. Ronald squeezes the trigger…'click'. He looks down and sees that he had not turned off the safety. When he looks back up the stranger is standing directly in front of him.

The table lamp suddenly dies…a man's cry rings out, but it is masked by the sharp crack of thunder. Then the only sound is the rain hitting the windows. Lightning illuminates the office and reveals…nothing. Both men are gone without a trace…as if they had never been there at all.

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**There we go. Ch1. Better right? Tell me what you think so far. I am very excited about this story…but I'm not exactly sure where it's going to end up. So we'll see where my imagination takes us. R&R pleas, pleas, pleas. (I hope you got that joke that was hidden in this story).**


	2. A Dark Encounter

**Ch2: I want to thank OmegaDragon3000 for again being my first reviewer, but dude, what's with all the name changes. It's confusing, but do whatever you want I guess (as long as you keep R&Ring I don't care what you call yourself). Anyway let's go alright.**

_**I own nothing (again)**_

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"**And now we go to our newest reporter Chelsea Falls with the latest news. Chelsea."**

"**Thank you. In a small suburb of Acmetropolis today a family of four…"**

"Duck, are you watching the news…**after** the weather?" Lexi asked as she came into the living room and saw Duck on the couch staring at the large TV on the wall.

"It's the new news girl." Tech explained from his place in a chair off in one corner of the room. He sat there reading a science journal that had peeked his interest.

"Well that explains it." Lexi replied with a roll of her eyes. Still she sat down on the couch to watch what kind of news was on. Ace had told them to try to stay in touch with the daily events in the city. You never can be sure what might come in handy later on after all.

"Yeah well, she's no Misty Breeze but…" He stared amorously at the image of the brightly smiling young blond woman on the screen. Then something more interesting than her looks came on.

"**Our top story today, however, is the mysteries string of disappearances that have been occurring all over the planet. So far the police have gathered a list of over 38 men and women that have gone missing in the last month. The newest additions to this list were Sal Moss, a recently paroled criminal, and his attorney Ronald Hail. One thing that connects the string of names is that most, if not all, have some type of criminal record or have been involved in some sort of mysterious dealings. The thing that makes these disappearances different from normal ones is the total lack of evidence. The only evidence that has been recovered is a fine powdery substance that has been at the scene of every disappearance. When police commissioner Hal Speck held a press conference this morning he said that due to the lack of evidence they have no suspects at this time. When asked if they were thinking of bringing in the Loonatics to assist in the case the commissioner said "This is a police matter and it will stay that way until new evidence shows that their assistance is required. Until then, I ask that the Loonatics take care of their own business and we shall do the same."**

Lexi looked at the screen incredulously. "Am I the only one who feels like we've just been insulted?"

"No…" Tech answered as he put down the journal he was reading, "I feel the same way."

"How dare they! They just told us to mind our own business when we haven't even done anything yet." Duck stated angrily. He was suddenly very riled up. _He always is the first person to loose his temper, _Lexi thought. _But still he's right… a total drama king, but right._

"I guess we should probably tell Ace. I'm sure he'll have something to say about this." Lexi said as she stood up to do just that. Then the tower alarm went off, signifying they were needed to come to the cities aid once again.

"It will have to wait." Tech said as he stood and headed to the COM room. "Right now we have to go **take care of** **our business.**" He made sure to add a heavy layer of sarcasm to this statement. He did not like being insulted by the police any better than the rest of them after all. The three made their way to the COM room and saw Ace, Slam, Rev, and Zadavia waiting for them.

"Greetings…" Zadavia began, "There has been a robbery at the Kelly Ware jewelry store and all police units are busy at the moment, so they need you to get there as soon as possible."

_Well that's irony to a tea. _Tech thought,_ the police tell us to stick to our area of expertise and they will handle all else, and yet now we are being called upon to do __**their **__jobs because they cant make it. _Tech thought this but said nothing. He had the feeling that telling Ace and the others about the police commissioner's comments right before a mission was a bad idea. It might throw them off their game, and it would not look good for them if they failed to capture a simple thief.

"Alright Zadavia, we'll take care of the robber no problem." Ace said confidently. He and his team usually faced superpower enemies and still mopped the floor with them _so a regular crook like this should be no problem. _"Loonatics lets jet!"

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The Loonatics arrived at the store in a matter of minute but the burglar was already gone.

"Rev see any body on your GPS?" Ace asked as he looked at the shattered glass that had once been the storefront window.

Rev looked around with the bright red glow in eyes for a few seconds then said, "Yup-I-got-him-no-problem-he-ran-off-down-that-alley-made-a-left-strait-right-then-a-left-so-now-he-is-aproxemently-fifteen-meeters-over-that-way." As he finished he pointed in the correct direction.

"Uh yeah…lets go get him." Ace said as he ran into the indicated alley and tried to remember the directions, and the others all followed.

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The robber was hiding in the alley and seeing what kind of haul he had gotten. _Not bad_, he thought, _and no cops to worry about. That's a first. Guess its my lucky day. _Then he heard the sound of the Loonatics approaching. _Dame! I didn't think they'd send __**them **__after me. Well time to get out of here, and quick. _So he ran out of the alley and found himself running down an empty street. He surveyed his surroundings to see if there was a place to hide as he ran down the middle of the road.

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_Hello there crook. Where do you think your going? _A shadowy figure in an alley watched the robber approach._ Time to go to work…again. _

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The robber was so busy looking for a place to hide he failed to notice a dark figure move out of another alley and move toward him on an intercepting course. He may have noticed this if the Loonatics had not came running around the corner of his old alley and started running after him. He looked back and saw them come out and his brain suddenly tried frantically to find a solution or a way out. Then he looked ahead of him and saw the shadowy figure standing directly in his path. He skidded to a halt and quickly pulled out the gun he had tucked into his waistband. He never got the chance to use it, however. The dark figure just as quickly grabbed the robber's arm and twisted it around behind his back with a loud 'crack'. Then, when he was standing with his back to him, the stranger kicked in his knees so that he fell to a kneeling position in front of him.

All this took place in less than a few seconds and the Loonatics witnessed it all…and were very impressed.

_Well not exactly the way I would done it…but I like this guys style, _Ace thought to himself as he smirked at this impressive sight.

The stranger looked up from the subdued crook and saw the Loonatics standing there watching him. He was, conveniently, standing under a streetlight so he was clearly visible. From their position a few feet away they could see this man was tall and thin, but still muscular. He was wearing a black shirt, black pants with a large, simple, silver buckle on a black belt, and a black hat with a wide brim that was reminiscent of an old cowboy hat, only the brim was straight all around and not curved. Then they noticed that there was some kind of cloak or cape fluttering behind him. What was strange was that it did not appear to be made of any fabric. The end, which went almost down to the ground, would shift and move as an open flame might. If you listened carefully you could even hear the smallest 'crackling' noise, but despite its fire-like qualities it too was pitch black.

"Uh…hi there." Lexi said a little timidly. Over all this man painted a very intimidating picture.

He looked at them silently for a moment with a blank face, then his mood seemed to lighten, but this showed only slightly. "Hello…you must be the Loonatics. I've heard a lot about you, obviously." His voice was calm, but a little raspy. It almost completely lacked any emotion, but they could tell he was genuine in his greeting.

"Hey. Nice take down there." Ace offered this small amount of praise as he moved forward, with his team following behind him.

"So what's the deal pale?" Duck suddenly moved to the front of the pack and began hurling questions at the stranger. "You some kind of vigilante or something, because we don't need…Ouch!" Duck began to demand information from this stranger but stopped when Lexi stepped on his foot.

"Oops. **Sooo** sorry Duck." Then she leaned in and whispered harshly "Stop being such a pain will you! We don't need to make any more enemies because you can't keep your big beak shut." He only looked at her then at the ground and grumbled something under his breath.

Ace decided to ignore this and instead focused on this man who had so effortlessly subdued the criminal. "Well if you don't mind me asking, who are you?"

The stranger looked thoughtful for a moment, thinking of the best response. "You can call me…Shade." He answered coolly.

_Shade? Well I suppose it fits him. _"Nice-to-meet-you-its-always-nice-to-meet-a-fellow-superhero-which-doesn't-happen-a-lot-so-it-is-a-real-treat-to-"

"Stop there." Shade suddenly raised his hand and commanded Rev to stop his sentence, and then put his hand back down on the criminals shoulder (he had placed his hands on both of his shoulders to keep him from moving any where). Rev and the others looked a little confused. "I'm not a 'superhero'. I'm more of a…crime fighter." He stated in the same blank voice that did nothing to hint at his feelings. This only served to increase the teams confusion and curiosity.

"And…what is the difference?" Tech asked as he studied this strange man clad in black. Again Shade paused and thought to himself about what he was just asked.

"Mainly this I suppose." He stated plainly. Then his arms that were resting on the robbers' shoulders began to smoke. Flames then sprang up on his own shoulders, then moved down his arm. It was not a regular fire as they saw. It acted like one but instead of being red or orange or even blue, which are normal colors for fire, it was black. A deep, dark, dismal, black flame that quickly made it's way down Shades arm and then spread to the robber.

The Loonatics watched in amazement (and some horror) as they saw the flame spread all around the criminal's body. Although he was obviously terrified he did not cry out in pain, and Shade simply kept the same calm, almost uninterested expression that showed his almost complete indifference to the shocked looks of the Loonatics. Quickly the robber was completely consumed by the strange black fire and then in a flash…he was gone. Nothing was left but a large pile of ash where he had been kneeling just seconds before.

"And that's that…." Shade brushed the ash off his hands and then began to move away from the group. "…my work is done. It was nice meeting you all, but I have a busy schedule to keep so I'll just be going." He turned away but stopped when he heard the protests of the Loonatics.

"Hey, hey, wow. Where do you think your going?" Ace asked as he struggled to get over the shock of what he had just witnessed. "What did you just do to that guy?"

Shade sighed heavily. "I would love to stay and chat but I have other appointments to get to. So maybe we can talk some other time." As he said this he lifted his arm into the air and then swiftly brought it back down. Instantly a tear manifested in midair. It showed a dark and shadowy world on the other side of it. Shade took one last look at the team and waved goodbye half-heartedly. Then he disappeared into the dark rift and it closed behind him.

The Loonatics all stared in shock and awe at the sight they had just witnessed. Most were speechless, but not all.

"What was **that?** What just happened?" Duck asked as he tried to wrap his mind around what he had just seen.

"It would appear that he…incinerated that criminal." Tech answered Duck's question somewhat. "But how he did it…I don't know." Rev was just as shocked as everybody else but suddenly he perked up and got excided.

"Hey-guys-I've-got-that-Shade-guy-on-my-GPS-hes-only-a-few-blocks-away-I'll-go-get-him." And he zipped off barely waiting to finish his sentence.

Which meant that he did not hear Ace call out to him. "Wait Rev! Don't go alone. You…need help" but he trailed off as he saw it was too late. He was gone. "Great." He said as he slumped forward in defeat.

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Shade emerged from the rift a few blocks away just as Rev had said. He once again found himself in an alley that was secluded and dark. _Perfect for me I guess_. He started to walk down the alley when he felt a gush of air from behind him. He stopped in his tracks and put his head down. He drew in a long breath, a sign of annoyance and frustration, but it was the only sign he gave. As he turned around his face was as blank as ever. "Hello Rev. Can I call you Rev? Listen, why don't you just leave. It would be best for both of us if you did." He talked to Rev in a calm, slow tone as if he were talking to child.

Rev was not really the type to get offended by such things, but he still could see when he was being talked down to. "Nope-sorry-can't-do-that-me-and-my-friends-have-some-question-we-need-to-ask-you." He stated firmly with his arms crossed.

Shade looked down again and rubbed his eyes in frustration. _Guess I have to do this the hard way. Shoot…he looks like a nice kid…I'll take it easy on him. This time._ He again looked up and stared directly into Rev's eyes. His expression did not change, but his mood had obviously shifted. "Let me rephrase that…" he walked toward Rev now and Rev started to back up until he was backed into a corner. "Your either going to walk out of this alley or your going to be wheeled out in a stretcher." He was now less then a foot away from Rev and he stood towering over him.

There were no lights in the alley but the moon was full that night so Rev could see his face clearly enough. He came face-to-face with him and got his first good look at Shade's face. It was long and thin with a prominent chin. It was a very average face. The most striking feature was the eyes. Rev saw that he had green eyes like his own…only they were worlds apart. His were more of an emerald green first of all, but it was more than that. His eyes contained all the bright cheeriness that youth provided. They were so full of curiosity and joy because life had yet to striped those traits away. Shade's eyes were much different. They were dull and dim in comparison to Rev's. They looked more gray than green. In fact, one word could describe his eyes completely…cold. That was all there was to them. Any other emotion would also contain that trait; cold anger, cold happiness, cold sadness…just plain cold.

So now Rev stood with his back against a wall as he stared into Shade's cold eyes that burrowed into him. "You know…" he suddenly continued as he backed off only slightly. "That long neck of yours could turn out to be a…liability. After all it's so long and thin…it would not be that hard for someone to, oh say, snap it…or ever strangle you. It makes a very vulnerable target if you ask me." Rev gulped and suddenly grasped his throat. "Send this message to the others. I like you guys. I can appreciate what you do, but don't get in my way otherwise…we will have **problems**. Do you understand?" He asked the terrified Rev who was using all of his willpower to keep from shaking…shaking too much any way. So he quickly nodded his head and once again Shade seemed to undergo another invisible transformation. He moved away and became almost completely non-threatening. "Alright, that's good to hear." He walked over to one of the walls and made another dark rift appear on it, but stopped before he entered it. "You remember what I said about that neck. Just be careful out there. I'd hate to see anything bad happen to a nice kid like you." Rev couldn't help but smile a little and this also got a very small smirk from Shade. So he tipped his hat, stepped into the rift and disappeared.

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**That's Ch2. I liked it. Did you? (only one review so far, that makes me sad, but this is only the second chapter so I'll be patient). I'm excited about my new OC. What are your first impressions of him?**

***EDIT*: I noticed something else that needed to be changed and figured I might as well take care of it.**


	3. An Interview With Shade

**Ch3: Hello (yes I am going to say that every time, deal with it :). You know what is funny/infuriating, the website says that nobody has read this yet story. And yet I have gotten 4 reviews already. Sooooo WTF? Speaking of which…CadillacJack: nice to hear from you again. I can see the similarity but let me make this clear. Shade is a completely new character. Nero was the stereotypical psychotic, ruthless, murderer. Simple as that. I based Shade on a completely different template. He's cool, calm, and still knows how to be intimidating. I suppose I based him off of an old gunslinger type character, with the hat and cape and buckle, like Clint Eastwood (If you don't know who that is I suggest you find out IMMEDIATELY!). Any way lets get going now.**

_**I do no own…you know what, no. No more of this. You know I don't own the Loonatics so I'm not going to say it any more. Once a story is enough.**_

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"So what are we going to do about this guy?" Lexi asked as they all sat around the COM table.

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After Shade had left the rest of the team found Rev in the alley still standing against the wall and clutching his throat. He was bug-eyed and breathing erratically.

"Rev are you alright? Did he hurt you?" Tech asked worriedly as he came over to his friend. Rev just shook his head at first, but then he realized that was not good enough.

"Yes…I-mean-no-I-mean-I'm-fine-and-no-he-didn't-hurt-me." He blurted out.

"So how did he get away? Did you just let him leave or what?" Duck asked as he got right up to Rev and stared at him. Ace saw Rev begin to fidget and lower his eyes to the ground.

"That doesn't matter now." He said drawing attention to himself and taking the pressure off of Rev. "What does matter is what we're going to do about this."

Rev looked relived to be out of the spotlight, but then he remembered the message he was to give the others. "Hey-wait-he-did-tell-me-to-tell-you-something." He paused for a moment to think about how best to relay the message. "He-said…that-we-should-stay-out-of-his-way or else." He slowed down at the end of the warning.

"Or else **what**?" Duck scoffed.

"Or else…we'll have **problems** with him." Rev stated grimly, and Duck seemed to get the message, as did every one else.

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"Well maybe we should just let him be." Duck said. "After all the news said that all the people he…did what ever that was to had some kind of criminal record." Ace looked shocked at this.

"We can't just let this guy go around killing whoever he wants. Criminal or not, that's not the way things are done in this city." He ended firmly.

Tech looked very thoughtful as he heard both Ace and Duck make their separate points. "If you ask me…" he suddenly spoke up "...the first thing we should do is tell the police that we know who is behind all the recent disappearances. I'm sure that commissioner Speck will have an opinion about what we should do." As always Tech proved to be the most methodical and level headed member of the team. Slowly all the others nodded showing their agreement.

"Ok. We tell the police and then we figure out what to do from there." Ace said and then made preparations to contact the police headquarters. "Hello…yeah this is Ace Bunny from the Loonatics…yeah we need to have a chat with commissioner Speck...well tell him its about all the missing people and then see if he wants to see us. Ok…alright…yeah…ok." He then terminated the transmission. "He says to get there as soon as possible."

"Aw, but its already 9:30, can't we do it tomorrow? I need my beauty sleep." Duck wined. Then after seeing everyone glare at him he sunk down into his chair and said "Ok, ok. Fine. We can go now."

Ace smirked at Duck's attitude. "Well if you say its ok than we can go."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The Loonatics sat in the waiting room of the police station as they waited to see the commissioner who was busy at the moment.

"Tells us to get here **as soon as possible **and he's not even ready." Duck griped for the hundredth time since they had arrived at the police station.

"Will you just be **patient**…and **quiet**? Lexi almost screamed. She was on the verge of pulling out her hair from listing to Duck complaining.

"Yeah Duck. Cool your jets already. We'll see him when he's ready." Ace chimed in. He was just as fed up with Duck as everybody else.

Then suddenly the office door opened and Speck came out. He was a short, burly man with light brown hair and a shaggy mustache. "Alright, come in." His speech was little above a series of low grunts. He was a serious and gruff man. As the Loonatics moved into the office Speck sat down heavily on his chair and asked, "So what do you want to tell me?"

_Blunt and to the point. I have a feeling that we're not going to get along well with this guy. _Ace thought this as he looked at the large hulk of a man. "Well…sir…" Ace used that word very grudgingly. He hated using it because it made him feel inferior to whoever he was talking to, like he was admitting that that person was better than him, but now was not the time to worry about that. "…we know who is behind your missing people."

The scowl that had already been on Specs face deepened as he heard this. "And you found this out how?" he said in an accusatory tone.

Duck scowled right back at him as he answered, "We found it out while we were stopping some burglar…a job that your suppose to do I think."

Speck glared at the temperamental Duck. "So where is this burglar then?"

Suddenly Duck looked sheepish and shifted his gaze to the floor. "Well…the thing is…he uh…was…" he stammered not really sure what to say.

"The same guy took care of him as all the other missing people." Ace answered for Duck and got the commissioner to focus on him again. "The guy calls himself Shade." Speck rested his head on his hands as he waited for more.

Tech noticed this and continued on. "He is a Caucasian male, approximately 6ft 6in tall, 180to210lbs, and between 20to30 years of age." Tech said this in a very formal and business like tone. Speck nodded and let his eyes lose focus as he tried to picture this man. "When we encountered him…" he continued, "…he was dressed in all black apparel. Black pants, black shoes, black shirt. Some more notable points are that he wears a black cordobés style hat and a cape that appears to be a physical manifestation of some type of…black fire-like energy." The cape was the hardest to describe, let alone explain.

"You-know-come-to-think-of-it-he-looks-a-lot-like-this-character-I-remember-seeing-in-an-old-movie-called-Zorro-with-the-cape-and-the-hat-only-Shade-doesn't-wear-a-mask-and-he-doesn't-have-a-sword-and-I-don't-think-he-has-a-pistol-but-he-does-have-a-belt-which-is-black-so-he-could-have-mphh."

"Thank you for that…input Rev, but I think the commissioner understands." Tech said as he held his friend's beak shut to stop him for droning on to long and possibly getting them all throw out of the station.

"Yes I do understand. Now what exactly happened to the burglar you say this man 'took care of'?"

"He was incinerated by Shade." Ace said simply. After all, what else could he say? That was the best way he could describe what happened.

Speck leaned back in his chair and looked at Ace with skepticism written all over his face. "He was…incinerated…by this Shade character, and he has done this to all the missing persons? That would explain the ash, but how does he do it?"

"The only explanation I have at this point is that he possesses some kind of, for lack of a better term, 'superpower' that allows him to do this. We also know he has the ability to open portals and use them to quickly travel from one place to another." Tech continued his explanation.

"Well that could make this very…complicated."

"I agree, but the question now is what do we do? Do you think we should inform the public about this?" Tech asked.

Speck looked thoughtful for a moment then said, "No. I think the last thing we want to do is tell the people about this. The problem with that is now we have to come up with a story to tell the press." Then suddenly an officer opened the door with a shocked and worried look on his face.

"Uh sir…I think you might want to see this." Speck looked puzzled and stood up. He walked out of the room and the Loonatics followed. When they came out of the office they saw a large crowd of police officers huddled around something.

"Alright, alright…out of the way." Speck shouted as he began shoving people away and clearing a path to see what the commotion was all about. When he reached the center of the gathering he, and the Loonatics, were shocked to see a TV that was on the news channel.

**"That's right. We have here in the studio the man who is responsible for the recent disappearances." **a woman's voice said on the TV.

It was the new news lady Chelsea Falls, and sitting in a padded chair next to her, with his hands folded into each other and with his standard blank face, was Shade.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**(A/N: I am going to write this a little differently, I will not say what the two people are doing unless absolutely necessary, lets just say that this is an interview so their both just sitting in chairs ok.)**

"First just let me thank you for coming in for this interview." Chelsea started the interview.

"I'm happy to be here Chelsea." Shade stated plainly.

"So you are admitting to be behind the recent missing persons. Is that correct?"

"Yes that is correct."

"Why then have you decided to come out and tell everyone like this?"

"Well I've been working in a low-profile style for about a month now, and that was going good. But I just thought it was time I 'stepped out of the shadows' so to speak."

"Is this some kind of confession?"

"No. This is just so nobody gets blamed for my work. I do plan on continuing my work after this interview."

"Now that's interesting, you refer to what you have been doing as 'work'. Why is that?"

"Because I am really treating this as a job, or maybe a 'quest'."

"Then what is the goal of this quest your on?"

"I'm only trying to protect people and stop crime in a more...proactive manner. Instead of a reactive manner, which is the way the police mainly handle things. They respond to crimes being committed. Then they throw the criminal or criminals in jail. That's if they catch them."

"What's wrong with that?"

"Well…there's nothing 'wrong' with it. It's just a weak way of dealing with criminals I think. If they are in jail they still have the opportunity to commit more crimes. If I decinerate them then they don't have that opportunity."

"What was that word you used? Decinerate?"

"Yes, that is what I call the process I perform on my 'victims'. Basically I use this dark fire…" he holds up his hands and two orbs of black flame appear in them, "…to consume the criminal and remove them from this plane of existence."

"Then where do they go?"

"They go to a place I call _Terra Scura__._ It's a world that exists just outside ours. It is actually intertwined with our plain as well, but is completely unintelligible to everyone but me. I actually use it to move from place to place in this world quickly and discreetly. It has come in handy many times."

"Really, that's very interesting. What dose that name mean?"

"It can be translated to 'dark earth', and that name is very apt I think."

"Ok, let me see if I understand this: you go after criminals and 'decinerate' them, sending them to this _Terra Scura_…never to be heard from again."

"Yes, that's it in a nutshell. Occasionally I'll have to just…kill the criminal, but that's rare. When eve I find myself in that kind of situation I use this." He pushes back his cape and shows an old fashion revolver in a holster at his hip then proceeded to pull it out. "I'm actually very proud of it. It's a custom made Korth revolver, that's a German revolver manufacturer. It is very high quality, 2.2lbs, 6 rounds chamber obviously, double action with automatic ejection system, 5.25in barrel, effective range of 150ft, and I personally use the .357 magnum rounds…with a little extra punch of my own added in. This was actually custom made for me and me alone. I asked specifically for the full silver grip…my own personal preference you see. I've only had to use it a few times, but it never fails." He then puts it away as he sees the terrified looks of everyone in the room.

"Well that's…nice."

"Yeah sorry about that. I can get a little eccentric about my firearm."

"That's not the word I would use to describe you. Your actually very sedate if you ask me. Almost stoic in fact."

"Thanks. I try to maintain a hold over my emotions as much as possible."

"You do a very good job of that. Now if we could move on to something different. We know how you do what you do, now the question is 'why'. How did you decide that you wanted to go around decinerateing people? "

"Well…I got these powers from the meteor that struck the planet not to long ago, but for a long time I didn't use them. I played around with them, but that was it. Then one day I went for a walk and I ended up walking into a bad neighborhood. I saw people getting mugged, beaten, stores getting broken into, cars being stolen…almost complete chaos. And it made me sad that this kind of thing was allowed to happen. I decided I wanted to do something to stop this from happening, but I had to think of the best way to do that. That's when I decided to make it my mission to put an end to crime on this planet."

"That's a tall order and a lot for one man to handle don't you think?"

"Yes it will take some work…but I think I'm up to it. I'm determined to achieve this goal because I'm really working to make a better society for everyone. And I'm always 'on the job'. Even what I'm doing right now is an effort to curb crime."

"How's that?"

"Well if people know that if they do something wrong there will be harsh and swift consequences than they wont do anything wrong…at least that's what I'm hoping is going to happen. Obviously the threat of death will always hold more power over people than the threat of imprisonment."

"So this is to help get the message out to people."

"Yes that's right."

"What about the police? I'm sure they wont be to thrilled to hear about your plans."

"No I guess not, but I'm hoping that they relies that I am a…'necessary evil' if you will. Besides, if they try to stop me they will only hurt themselves."

"Are you saying that if any police officer tries to stop you your going to **kill** them?"

"…Maybe not kill them, but I will have to stop them from stopping me. It would be like…what is it they call it…obstruction of justice."

"What about the Loonatics?"

"I think the seven of us have an understanding that the same rules apply to them as the police. We're both working toward the same goal after all. They have their methods and procedures of saving the city and I have mine. It's as simple as that."

"Well we are almost out of time so is there anything you want to say to the people of Acmetropolis?"

"Yes, thank you." He then turns to face the camera. "Let it be known from now on…if you commit a crime or do wrong onto someone else, I will find you. No matter who you are, or where you go…I'll find you. That's it I guess."

"Ok, well that's it for tonight. This has been an interview with Shade and I have been Chelsea Falls. Until tomorrow, good night."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Every one in the police station was speechless…for a short time any way. The familiar loudmouthed black foul finally broke the silence.

"This may be a problem." He stated and the others nodded grimly.

"Well that settles it." Speck suddenly said. "Now our top priority is binging that vigilante in ASAP."

"But how sir?" one of his officers asked him

"I think I may have an idea." Tech suddenly spoke up. "It's not pretty, but it might just work."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**So how was that? A little different from normal so tell me what you thought of it, ok. Revriley: Nice to hear from a new person (not that I have a problem with my old reviewers). Maybe cut Shade a little slack? I may have fallen into some old habits and made him to harsh, but Shade only said what he said to make sure he would NOT have to hurt Rev or any of the Loonatics. Does that make sense?**


	4. To Catch A Shadow

**Ch4: Hello. We (or I) might be in some trouble. I feel myself slowly being sucked into the world of ****Sonic The Hedgehog.****This is bad because if that happens you will not hear from me for about a month…or two…or three…a really long, long, incredibly long time. It's kinda like this "Must not…read Sonic…must…focus…on Loonatics Unleashed…have to…fight…urge…so hard…" That's what is going on in my head…all day long. This was just a heads up to you all. Any way lets get to it.**

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

It was another cold windy night in Acmetropolis. The weather forecast had predicted rain and thunderstorms all week long. It was not, however, raining at the moment, but it could start at any moment.

_It better not start raining. That'll mess up my do, _Sypher thought as he stood in the vacant lot and waited for…_what am I waiting for? _He recalled the meeting he had with the police and the Loonatics not more than half an hour ago.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

He sat in a room of the prison he had never seen before. Even though he had been there for some time he was constantly confined to the maximum-security wing of the prison.

He sat there in the 12X12ft white room with his feet propped up on the table in front of him as he waited for his 'visitors' to show up. When the guards had shown up and told him he had a visitor he was **very** skeptical. After all, you don't exactly endear yourself to a lot of people by being a super villain, but despite his reservations he had no choice in the matter and was forced to see them. The door finally opened and in walked the police commissioner and Tech E. Coyote, two people he did **NOT** want to see.

"Hello Mr. Sypher." Speck greeted him gruffly. He and Tech then sat in two other chairs across from Sypher.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here? Two of my **favorite **law enforcers. What is it that brings you two to this little rats nest?" he asked with a mixture of comedy and spite.

"We are here to attain your assistance in a case." Tech replied as he laced his hands together on the table in front of him.

Sypher raised his eyebrow at him. "Is that so? And how, may I ask, could **I** be of any help to **you?"**

"That's on a need to know basis." Speck replied this time in a harsh and impatient tone. "You're going to help us and that's all you need to know." Tech gave him a look of disapproval but was ignored completely.

"Well I disagree. My ma always told me to never volunteer for something without knowing what it was all about first. So you can see I'm not feeling very enthusiastic about this situation." Sypher replied with a cocky smile.

"You're not **volunteering **your being drafted. You are to follow our orders to the letter and do nothing else. That's final!" And with that Speck suddenly stood up and left through the door. Tech looked hesitant for a second, then sighed and followed him out. Sypher was flabbergasted. _What just happened?_

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Out side Speck walked up to one of the many police officers in the area and said, "Start the plan." Then he simply walked away down the corridor.

Tech jogged a little to catch up with Speck to have a word with him. "What was that?" he asked obviously annoyed about the commissioners conduct with Sypher.

Speck glared at him and grunted out, "That was telling a criminal to stay in his place and do what the law enforcers tell him to do."

"Because criminals are **so** good at following orders." Tech scoffed back.

"They are when you don't give them any choice in the matter." Speck stated firmly. "If we had done it your way we would have ended up giving him the key to the city in order for him to cooperate. Now stop arguing with me and lets get this ludicrous plan over with." Tech had nothing to say to that. Well, he could have said 'do you have a better plan?' but he had begun to realize that arguing with Speck was often an effort in futility.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sypher rode in a SWAT car with fore policemen with him to an unknown destination, well unknown to him at least.

"Okay here is what you're going to do…" one of the officers said, "…when we tell you to get out you get out. You're going to be in an empty lot. There will be sharp shooters all over the rooftops so don't try anything funny. Got it?"

"Yeah…sure." _What am I suppose to do in a vacant lot? _Sypher thought. He was seriously not comfortable with what was going on. _They don't allow executions on this planet do they? Maybe they're trying to set me up and get rid of me. _He looked at the fore heavily armed cops, then down at his hands that were encased in full-handcuffs made 'just for him'. _Well…not a whole lot I can do at this point. Guess I just wait it out to the end._

Then the driver of the van called out, "We're here." The van stopped and the door was opened. Sypher got out as he was commanded and had his cuffs removed. Then the same cop as before smiled down at him and said, "You just stand there and look pretty." Then the door closed and it drove away.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

That had been five minuets ago. So far nothing had happened and he was rapidly growing impatient with just waiting for what ever was suppose to happen. He had scanned the rooftops for the alleged sharpshooters but it was too dark to see much. There was a dim lamp next to a wall in the corner that was buzzing and flickering.

_Well they weren't lying when they said vacant. _He thought. It was nothing more than a 50ft square patch of blacktop, nothing more, nothing less. _It was probably a parking lot or something…at some point, _he thought as he closely studied the ground and saw the state of determination that the blacktop was in. Then he focused on the annoying buzzing of the light that was slowly driving him crazy. Then it stopped all of a sudden. He looked over at it and saw a figure clad entirely in black was standing under the light. He looked up at Sypher and tipped his hat to him. "Evening." His voice was low and a little raspy, but he could still be understood perfectly. If any thing, his voice only made him even more unnerving.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

(Several minuets ago)

As the SWAT van drove away one of the cops picked up the radio. "Dispatch be advised…" the cop said into the radio, "…Drake Sypher has escaped from prison and is now on the run. I repeat, Sypher is out of police custody and at large. He was last seen in the old factory district."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Drake Sypher…aren't you suppose to be in prison?" The dark figure said to Sypher.

"They let me out early for good behavior." He joked sourly. _Who's this guy? And what's he want any way? I wonder if he's why I'm here._

"Really?" He continued, "Because that's not what I heard. I heard you broke out."

"What! I did no such thing. Those cops **let **me out." He shouted. _They are tying to set me up, but then who is this guy? I know I don't like the looks of him. Definitely not the type of guy you want to be alone with in a parking lot in the middle of the night._

"It doesn't really matter to me. What does matter is that you're here now."

"And why does that matter to you? Who are you?"

The figure took on the smallest hint of amusement at hearing this. "You don't watch the news a lot, do you?

"No. Not in the max-security cell that was my most recent place of residence." He joked. He was just gona string this guy along until he knew what he was after.

"Hmm…no matter I guess." Then he looked up at the dark cloudy sky. "It's going to rain soon…so I better get this over with." Then he paused and looked a little troubled. "If I know your profile as well as I think I do, than you can steal peoples abilities through physical contact, correct?"

"Yeah that's right."

"That could be a problem. You see…the names Shade and I'm here to perform a process I call decineration on you...but in order to properly do that I need to make physical contact…"

"And so I would get your powers." _What ever they are. _Sypher finished.

"So you see my dilemma. I cant risk letting a punk like you run around with my powers."

"Well I guess your just gona have to leave than." He said as he crossed his arms over his chest confidently. But inside he was feeling unsure about this guy. He had seen a lot of 'tough' people, but this guy was in another category all together. The way he was so cool was very unsettling to him.

"No. I'm just going to have to terminate you." After seeing the look of shock Shade took it for confusion. "Eliminate…exterminate…discharge?" After seeing Sypher's look of confusion grow Shade sighed. "Ok…how about this? I'm gona kill you strait up son. You get that one?" As he finished he swiped away his cape to reveal his pistol. It's solid silver grip glistening in the dim light.

Sypher gulped and flinched a little, but kept his talk tough. "So what, your just going to shoot me?" he asked almost rhetorically.

But to his surprise and shock Shade simply replied by placing his hand on the weapon and saying "Yup."

"Y-you…you can't just shoot mm-m-me." Sypher stammered out.

"I disagree." was all Shade said as he quickly drew his gun and fired in one fluid motion in true gunslinger fashion. It would appear, however, that he was not as good as he was thought to be. The bullet he shot went through Sypher's right thigh. Lucky for him it went strait through the muscle and out the other side without hitting the bone or any major arteries so, although it was painful, it was not fatal. **(A/N: remember that Shade uses .357 magnum rounds…with the 'punch').**

Sypher clutched the wound for a moment then, gritting his teeth, stood back up to his full height. "That hurt, but it's just a scratch." He shouted.

"Just wait…it will get worse." Shade said calmly. Then before Sypher could think of a response a deep searing pain sprang up in his leg in the same area as the bullet wound, only this pain was ten times worse. It felt like his skin and muscles were being torn from the bone. He looked down and saw black flames emerging from the wound and consuming his leg at a rapid rate. He looked at Shade with panicked eyes but received the standard indifferent stare from him. "Three seconds…that's how long it takes." He put three fingers in the air and began to count "Three…" The flame spread all down Sypher's legs and groin. "Two…" now the flam was on his torso. "AHHHH NOOO AHHH!" he screamed as the pain was becoming unbearable. "One…" The flames rose up his neck and he was only able to scream one last time "AHHHH". "Zero." Shade finally concluded the countdown and Sypher was reduced to nothing but ash. A gentle wind picked up and blew the ash away. Shade simply brushed his hands off on each other and said "And that's that." He brushed his hands, not to get any residue off of them, but instead to continue the ritual he had established with himself. He was about to call up a portal and leave, but something made him pause. He looked up at the rooftops and saw movement. _Well I guess I should have expected something like this._

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The Loonatics, commissioner Speck, and several other officers had all been watching the scene unfold from the rooftop of the building. Some of the younger police officers along with Rev and Lexi had had to turn away from the sight of Sypher being consumed by flames. Unfortunately it was impossible to escape the screams.

Tech suddenly slammed his fist down on the stone ledge as he squeezed his eyes shut in an effort to hold back the tears that were threatening spill down his face.

Speck looked at him and asked, "What?"

Tech was barely able to talk at this point. "He…he wa…he wasn't s-s…suppose to…" He was choking on his own grief at this point and was unable to finish.

"Well he did." Speck said harshly. "You can't change that. Now are you going to go through with this plan or not?" He made no attempt to be sympathetic to Tech's feelings.

Ace saw this as the time to get things under control so he put a comforting hand on Tech's shoulder. "Yes. We're going though with the plan…right Tech?"

Tech regained his composure and said "Yes…let's go finish this." He was able to say this with only a few small sniffles.

Ace smiled then looked at the rest of his team. "Are we ready?" He saw all nodes. "Good. Let's do it. Speck, lights." And with that he gave Speck the signal to start the next phase of the plan.

Speck took up his police communicator and spoke into it "Lights!" he barked and then a dozen stadium lights that had been put on the rooftops lit up one by one. When they were all lit the lot below was brighter than it would have been with broad-daylight. "Ok, camera, and action!" Ace said this as he jumped off the ledge and activated his jet pack, and the others all followed him as he glided down to the ground below.

Speck just stared at them as they made the decent. "Captain!" he commanded and a man next to him saluted. "Make sure your ready with plan B when I give the command."

"Yes sir." was the stiff reply.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Shade heard the lights coming on and saw them slowly illuminating the lot to an almost insane degree. At first he pulled his hat down and looked at the ground to protect his eyes. Then he heard the distinct sound of small jet engines. He then was able to see the Loonatics land a few yards away from where he was standing.

"Hello Loonatics. It's nice to see you again so soon. Only, I wish I could see you better." Then he reached over to a pouch on the opposite side of his gun and opened it. The Loonatics tensed up but eased up when they saw Shade pull out a pair of sunglasses and put them on. "That's better, but do you really think those are necessary?"

"Well maybe not." Ace said quietly as even he was finding it hard to see with all the bright lights.

"Then you don't mind if I turn them off." And with a wave of his hand the lights all began to dim then turned off altogether. "Much better." He said as he now put away his glasses.

Every one looked stunned at this. "How did you do that?" Tech asked genuinely curious.

"Well Tech, you all seemed to have made the mistake most everybody makes about me and the way my powers work." he started his explanation. "I assume that you thought that my powers relied on the darkness to work properly...and I'll bet it was your hypothesis, Tech, that if you literally bath me in light I would be less powerful. Am I right?" Tech could only node. "It was a good hypothesis that was based on some substantial evidence, but as they say 'hypothesis's are meant to be tweaked from time to time.' Most people when they think of darkness they think of shadows. Shadows are the most common form of darkness we see on a daily basis. Shadows are, in fact, the weakest form of darkness. They depend on light to be created and even too much light can destroy them. I do not use the shadows around me for my power. Instead I work more on a back-hole principle. I collect the light energy around me then convert to this black energy." He holds up two balls of the black fire. Tech was astonished. He had never considered that this man would be so knowledgeable, but he had little time to marvel as the explanation continued. "But once I have drawn it in it can not escape except as dark energy. I don't rely on darkness for power, you see, I actually rely on light. I make light into darkness. To put it more simply, and at the risk of sounding overly dramatic, I don't rely on darkness…I am darkness."

"How could **that **be considered being overly dramatic." Ace said with mock sincerity. To be honest though his head was on the verge of spinning off his shoulders.

"Yes…any way. What was this whole charade about?" Shade asked.

"We're here to accept you surrender and escort you to jail." Ace said simply yet firmly with a look of absolute rock-solid resolve in his eyes.

"I was afraid you would say that. I, obviously, can't let you do that." He sighed and looked some what pained at saying this…but only slightly.

"And I was afraid you would say something like that." Ace replied. Then he nodded to his teammates and they did the same.** (A/N: Imagine the theme music for 'The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly' starts to play right here).**They all started to walk around in a circular fashion until Shade was surrounded. Shade simply looked at them calmly and made no effort to prevent this from happening. Instead he simply looked at all those who were within his immediate line of sight (which was Ace, Lexi, and Slam). There was a loud clap of thunder and the rain started to pour down. Nobody seemed to take notice of this however.

_Why does it always rain in these types of situations? _Shade thought as he waited for the first move to be made. Several tense moments passed without movement. Time seemed to stand still for that brief period of time. It then began all at once. Ace fired his eye lasers, but Shade effortlessly dogged out of the way by rolling to his right. This action, however, put him in the perfect position to be attacked by Duck. He threw several of his flaming eggs at Shade, but to his surprise Shade brought his arm upward swiftly and a dark rift appeared. The eggs flew into the opening then came out another opening directly over Duck a few seconds later. Duck had made the attack very strong so when they hit the ground his eggs caused an explosion that sent him smashing into a wall. Next Rev began to run his "infinity maneuver" **(or whatever It's called when he runes in a figure eight) **around Shade. Shade seemed momentarily worried, but recovered and moved forward swiftly. He simply reached out and grabbed Rev by his shoulders, stopping him cold with a shocked look on his face. Shade then spun around (taking Rev with him) and there by putting him in between himself and Slam who had tried to sneak-up behind him and incapacitating Shade. _Use Rev as a decoy and take me out while I'm disstracted.._._impressive._ Slam stopped his attack when he saw Rev and Shade used this time to conger up the black fire in his palms. He then sent a stream of the energy crashing into Rev, propelling him into Slam with enough concussion force to render both of them unconscious. _Three down,_Shade thought a little wearily. He was quickly back into the fight when Lexi and Ace again attempted to blast him. He rolled out of the way just as before…only this time Tech was ready with a net cannon he had made a while ago. Shade saw this but only stood up and made no attempt to doge the net.

_Is he giving up? _Tech thought as he saw this. That question was answered when he saw the net simply pass through Shade as if he was not even in it's path at all and slammed into the opposite wall. He had little time to be confused as Shade suddenly disappeared into a portal and appeared right in front of him just as quickly. Shade put his hand directly onto the center of Tech's chest and let it rest there. Tech looked down then back up with obvious confusion and apprehension. Then the air around them began to darken and get very hot. Tech again looked down and saw the dark fire building up to a menacing degree around Shade's hand. He closed his eyes tightly waiting for…what ever was going to happen to him. He heard the strange sound that came off of the discharge of dark energy, but felt no pain. Only the continuing heat. He opened his eyes and saw that Shade had blasted Lexi as she tried to help him out and she was now lying on the ground, evidently knocked out as well. He had little time to see this, as he was the next person to be blasted and ended up just like her. And so it was just Ace and Shade left. Shade turned to face Ace and they stared at each other in silence.

_Well he's good…really good. I can't remember the last time we got beaten like this._ Ace thought as his hands and ears began to twitch nervously. He had the idea to pull out his Guardian Strike Sword, but decided against it. _No. I can't kill him._ So he and Shade again stood there staring at each other but suddenly Shade spoke.

"Can we call a truce? I really don't want to have to finish it like this."

"Sorry bud. I can't let you leave here without a fight. So we're gona finish this right here and right now."

"Ok." was the only reply he received. Shade held up one arm slightly and the dark fire again appeared. Then with his other arm he waved in the air. Ace was tense as he waited for the attack, but then his vision began to darken suddenly. He saw Shade walk toward him slowly but his eyes were rapidly being draped with utter blackness. He rubbed his eyes in an attempt to clear them, but to no avail. He was left to listen to the footsteps approach him almost helpless. _He's very light on his feet,_ Ace thought as he struggled to find where Shade was. In the end he felt a hard punch to his stomach, immediately followed by a force that sent him skidding back into a wall…hard. He staggered out of the crater that he had made and looked up at Shade. He was happy to have his vision back but he felt his legs fail him and he fell forward to the ground. He did not have the strength to get up.

"Well that was thoroughly unpleasant." Shade said as he grimaced ever so slightly and prepared to leave.

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Speck saw the whole fight and was not impressed. "Captain!" he again barked at his subordinate. "Yes sir."

"Begin plan B." Speck growled and received the same response.

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Shade was about to leave when the lights he had dimmed began to light up again (much to his annoyance). He then saw several rows of police officers pop-up on the roof and aimed their assault rifles down at him. Then, despite the rain, he heard the distinct sound of a police chopper coming toward his location. Then the entrance to the parking area was filled with cop cars and he had even more guns on him. He was surrounded once again. Even from the air now as the chopper arived and used it's own spotlight on Shade.

"Shade. This is commissioner Speck of the APD. I am ordering you to surrender now or you will be eliminated with extreme predigest. You have one minutes to put you hands in the air or we will fire." His voice came down with the help of a megaphone.

Shade looked around him at the impressive amount of force that was being displayed. _Well even I did not expect this much…preening from the police. There must be cameras somewhere. I could fight them…or I could just slip away…nhaa. I'm done for tonight. _Even he got tired after all.

So he put his hands up as he was told and waited for his next instructions. _It's going to be a long couple of days. Very **frustrating **days._

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**That is chapter 4. Took a lot of time because of what I said at the top of this story. Was the fight scene good? Only my second one so I'm a little nervous. CrazyInSye: Thanks for the review. Not sure if 'flaunt' is the word I would have used but I agree with the hero/villain thing. That is what I was going for. Well R&R as always please and thank you. **

**p.s. The story 'hits' tracker is working again after three days of not doing it. Soooooo…yay :)**


	5. Well We Got Him, Now What?

**Ch5: Hello. Good news, no need to worry about me getting distracted. I have forbidden myself from reading any Sonic stories until this is done. And I'm sure I can do that. Just thought you might want to know. And hay, OmegaDragon3000: What's wrong with Sonic? I myself have never played any of the games or seen any of the TV shows…but it dose seem interesting to me. Dose anyone else have a comment or opinion about Sonic? I was actually thinking of a story for that 'franchise', but like I said, not until I finish this (and that could be some time). **

**I had to repost this because the site was stupid...again and did not register the corrections I made.**

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Shade stood in the center of the lot as a large number of heavily armed police men moved from behind their cars and moved forward, all the time keeping their guns fixed on him. A rope ladder fell from the roof and he saw someone, he assumed it was Speck, clime down the three-story building and walk over to him. Speck pushed his way through the tight circle of police so that the two men were now standing face to face. It was quite the picture. The short, gruff, blunt, temperamental, pudgy commissioner and the tall, dark, calm, cool, always in control 'criminal'.

"Nice to meet you commissioner." Shade said in as dull a voice as ever, but Speck still took offence.

"Right**." **He sneered and continued, "Since you decided to surrender you might, **might**, get off with life in prison. Just thought you should know what your in for."

"This city doesn't allow executions unless in cases of terrorism against the city itself." After seeing the skeptical look on Speck's face he said, "I made sure to learn the in's and out's of the laws of the city. Just in case something like this ever happened."

Speck was silent for a moment then spoke, "We'll see about that once we get to the station. Now lets go." He started to walk off toward the cars but Shade did not move.

He turned to look at Speck and said, "We…or you should do something with the Loonatics, don't you think? They will be 'out' for some time and with this weather…that could pose a considerable health concern to them. After all it would be bad if the cities local crime fighters were to catch cold." He said this with a completely strait face so he probably wasn't joking.

_I don't know if I want to laugh at this guy or just shoot him. _Speck was not quite sure how to feel about this man. He knew he didn't want him walking the street, killing whomever he felt deserves it. It was his job to take care of criminals. _It's bad enough that I have to deal with those smart-aleck kids, but now I've got this guy trying to get his own version of justice done. Well not on my watch buddy. _He scowled even more and shouted, "Alright. Lieutenant go see if their ok. The rest of you head to the station." And everyone got to work. Shade had allowed his hands to cuffed behind his back when one of the officers said, "Should we take his weapon sir?" They all looked at the handsome revolver on his waist.

Speck looked at him like he was saying 'are you crazy or just stupid' but only said, "Yes…you moron." He only mumbled the last part. When the young cop reached for Shades gun, however, black flames suddenly flared up as his hand drew near it. He snapped his hand back to his side and looked at Shade.

He shrugged. "Nobody's allowed to touch my gun. So I suggest you not try that again."

Speck glared at Shade as he walked over to him quickly. "What do you think your doing? You are to surrender that weapon or else…"

"Or else…**what**…Speck?" Shade interrupted as he leaned down to be at an even level with Speck.

"I am in charge of this situation." Speck growled.

Shade looked at him with his bone chilling eyes. "You may think that…but are you willing to risk the lives of your men to see if that's true?" he said almost in a whisper and waited for the commissioner's response.

Speck was about to punch the man in front of him. _How dare he. He has the nerve to question my authority in front of __**my**__ men._ Then he noticed a faint aura of darkness begin to form around Shade. Shade chocked his eyebrow slightly as the aura grew. Speck's eyes glanced around at all the men…at all **his **men. "Fine…keep it." His officers first looked at each other, then at their boss.

"Sir?"

Speck glared at the man who had spoke. "What. It's not like he can us it." He nearly shouted. Then to end the conversation he said, "Now lets get out of here. I can't stand all this rain."

"Sir. Should we wait for the Loonatics?"

"NO!" Speck bellowed and continued on toward the waiting police cars. This time all the officers and Shade followed him.

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While this heated and tense conversation was taking place a few cops and medics collected all the Loonatics and leaned them against a wall. The medics concluded that they were fine and no damage had been done. As they saw that Speck and most of their comrades were leaving they decided to do the same. A lieutenant asked if there were any volunteers to stay behind until the Loonatics awoke. A sergeant and two other officers raised their hands and were given the duty.

"Ok you three stay here until they come to. Then get them to the station." The lieutenant told the three then walked off.

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So the three cops waited for the six heroes to awaken in silence. The sergeant looked at his wristwatch. _4:43am. God I hate late-night operations. I'm not a good morning person. _He thought as he fought back a yawn. The sergeant was Eli Mockery, a veteran of thirteen years on the force. The two officers were his friends/lackeys Jay Malden and Andy Lashly. Jay had been on the force for almost as long as Eli but showed very little initiative in his duties. He had been pressured to join the force by his family in order to keep up with a tradition and was not happy about it. Andy, on the other hand, was relatively new. He had been working as a clerk for the first three years of his career and had been quite happy with his work. Then a sudden slack in recruitment's and a spike in retirements meant that there was a shortage of 'street cops', as the regular officers were called. So he had been forced onto the streets to help fill the gap. Because of his inexperience he was allowed to join the long time partnership of Jay and Eli in the hopes that they could teach him the ropes.

Eli paced around as he waited for the anthros to wake up. He was not a fan of waiting around for stuff to happen. When he looked at them he had to fight the urge to slap them until they woke up. _Best not to start slapping around the city's superheroes. I don't want to get them angry. _

Andy crouched down in front of Ace and starred at him. Jay smirked as he rested against the wall a few feet away. "Take a picture. It'll last longer." He joked.

Andy frowned at him. "What? It's not every day you get to get this close to a genuine hero right?"

"Well if you get much closer you might end up having to buy him dinner afterward...or maybe breakfast." As he said this Jay started cracking up.

Andy's frown deepened and he blushed slightly in spite of himself. "Shut up!" he almost shouted.

"Cut it out, both of you!" Eli said sternly. "Now keep it down."

"Why? I thought we **wanted **these guys to wake up." Jay said with a sour look on his face. _Jeez he's_ _always so uptight…he needs to relax. But after ten years I guess I should be use to it. _

"Just be quiet both of you." Eli barked at the two. Jay frowned and rolled his eyes but said nothing. Andy took on the look of a child that had just been chastised by his father. Nether of them said anything else since they knew that Eli was not a man to trifle with when he was grumpy. Andy turned his head back to Ace and to his surprise he saw Ace staring back at him.

"WOW!" he cried out as he fell back into a puddle of accumulated rainwater.

"Uh…sorry about that doc." Ace apologized to the police officer he had just startled. He rubbed his head and looked around him. "So…what's up anyway?"

"Well Mr. Bunny…" Eli began to explain the situation, "…the criminal was subdued by the police after you and your team were…incapacitated."

Ace looked at him crookedly. "How did you do that?" he asked.

"He surrendered." Jay now answered.

"You don't say. Shade surrendered…so he's in jail?"

"He is on his way there Mr. Bunny." Eli stated stiffly. He felt it was best to stay formal with the rabbit.

Suddenly Tech stirred next to Ace. "Did I hear that Shade has **surrendered **to the police?"

"That's what these guys said." Ace replied as he stood up and stretched a little. "Hey how long have we been out anyway?"

"About thirty minuets Mr. Bunny." Eli once again answered. "We were instructed to bring you to the station once you woke up."

"Uh thanks…but I think we can get there ourselves." Ace said as he moved to awaken his team.

"I'm afraid not chief." Tech said. "Our jetpacks were all damaged in the fight. So we are currently grounded until I get time to fix them."

"Well than I guess we'll take that ride officer…" he trailed off as he waited to hear the man's name.

"I am sergeant Mockery and this is officers Malden and Lashly...Mr. Bunny."

"Nice to meet you, but just call me Ace." Ace said as he shook each mans hand.

"Likewise." Eli said as he smiled lightly.

"Yeah." Jay was a little more grudging than Eli and did not have any smile.

"It's really great to meet you too Mr. Bunny, I mean Ace. I'm a big fan of you and your team. You can just call me Andy by the way, and he's Jay. " Andy gushed as he shook Ace's hand vigorously.

"Andy…why don't you get the car ready for us to leave." Eli said as he sighed a little. _This kid needs to settle down. He's gona scare the heroes away acting like that._

Andy frowned suddenly as he looked around. "What car?" he asked genuinely confused.

Jay smirked at this, then he began to frown as well as he looked at the lot entrance. "Did they even leave us a car?" Everyone else looked and saw that there were no cars that they could see.

"I guess Andy is just going to have to go look for one." Eli said as he looked at Andy as one might look at a younger brother after they had just embarrassed you. Keeping with that feeling Andy hung his head and mumbled, "Yes sir." glumly and walked off to complete this new job.

When he was sure Andy was out of earshot Eli apologized to Ace. "I'm sorry about that. He's a good kid but…well he's a rookie so what can you do I guess. I've been trying to work it out of him and I think he will make a fine cop...one day."

"For now, though, he's just a pain in the a…"

"**Thank you** Jay...that'll do." Eli cut Jay off mid-curse as he glared at him. He did not want to be embarrassed again. Jay just smirked a little more and sighed with frustration in a rather dramatic fashion.

Ace just smiled and shrugged. "No problem. I get that a lot. Not much from the police actually, but plenty of civilians." Then he turned his attention to Tech who had been working on waking everyone up. He had managed to rouse Lexi, Rev and Slam and was working on Duck. "How we doing Tech?"

"Working on it chief." He said as he tried once again to wake Duck. "Duck! Wake up! We have to get to the police station!" He urged the mallard but only got quiet murmurs from him.

"I got an idea." Ace said as he smirked and walked over to Duck. He was lying on the ground and his head was located directly next to a puddle of murky water. _How convenient, _Ace thought as he stomped in the small pool and splashing Duck.

He shot up and started shouting, "**We're going down! Man the lifeboats! Woman and me first**!" Then he seemed to realize where he was and what had happened. He glared at Ace as he looked down at him.

"Oh Duck, you're awake. Good, cause we have to go now."

"Yeah, yeah I'm up. So where are we going?" He asked obviously irritated.

"I'll explain on the way. Once our ride gets here." Just as he said this Andy rode up in a SWAT van that had been left at the scene.

"How's this sir?" he asked happily as he hanged out the window.

Eli smiled and said "Yeah Andy that should work."

"I thought those SWAT vans only held eight." Jay said as he looked at the vehicle.

Eli's small smile vanished and was replaced by a light scowl. "Your right. Someone is going to have to make their own way to the station."

Everyone looked at Rev since he was the only one that still had flight capabilities. He quickly got the message. "Ok-yeah–sure-I'll-just-meet-you-guys-there." And with that he flew off into the air.

"That settles that I guess." Jay said as he watched the roadrunner fly off at great speeds. _He might be the first __**flying roadrunner**__ in history_, he thought and chuckled slightly as he moved toward the van. Andy got out of the drivers seat and Eli took his place behind the wheel.

Jay was heading for the passenger side when he heard Ace yell out "Shotgun!" and saw him jump in instead. _What? Shotgun? Is he serious? You cant just…oh forget it_, he thought as he now climbed into the back of the van with Tech, Slam, Lexi, Duck, and Andy. Andy sat at the end of one bench and Jay sat next to him. Tech sat next to Jay and the others filled up the other metal bench inside the vehicle.

They traveled on in silence for a short time, but Ace soon grew uncomfortable. "So…" he started to make conversation with the cops. "You guys saw us fight with Shade?"

Andy perked up and got excited. "Of course, it was awesome. You guys were great." He almost shouted with barely contained enthusiasm.

_Here we go._ Jay thought. _Maybe I can have some fun with these __**superheroes. **_"Oh yeah, you looked great…except for the parts when you got blasted into the walls. Other than that you were terrific." He said in a condescending and smug tone.

Duck was the only one to really take offence at this. "Hey! You try fighting some guy with crazy shadow powers and see how well you do." He crossed his arms as he ended his retort.

Before Jay could reply back Ace said, "I'm just glade nobody saw us get our butts kicked like that." He even chuckled as he said this.

"I wouldn't say that." Andy said then immediately got an elbow to the stomach from Jay.

"Shut it Andy." He whispered. Speck had made sure to tell all the officers that they were not to tell the Loonatics about plane B under any circumstances. Unfortunately Andy was not very good at keeping secrets. When Jay saw the Loonatics stare at him with curiosity he said, "He just means people like Speck and his subordinates saw too. That's all." He tried to explain away their worry.

"Plus the SWAT teams." Andy said and again received a hard elbow from Jay. "Andy!" He hissed as he tried to keep from slapping the young cop on the back of his head.

"Speck had the SWAT team called in? When did he do that?" Tech asked. _That was __**not **__in my plan. If he wanted to change it he could have asked me. _Tech was now becoming **very** irritated with Speck.

Jay smiled nervously as they all started to stare at him. "He had them called in as…back up." He explained in a less than convincing tone.

Lexi looked at him skeptically. "Did anyone else see us that we don't know about?"

"Uh…not that I can think of." Jay said hoping to put the matter to rest.

"What about the chopper with the cameras?" Andy asked.

Jay slapped his hand on his face and shouted "ANDY! What part of **secret **do you not understand? They were not supposed to know about that, REMEMBER?" he asked exasperated.

"That whole fight was caught on tape? Oh man, this is going to be sooooo embarrassing!" Lexi cried out. She new that if the public saw that tape it could seriously hurt their reputation.

Andy began to squirm as the tension in the van got so thick he was almost chocking on it. "So…" he said in a crackly voice, "…does this van have a radio?" He asked Eli. _Pleas say yes. Pleas say yes, anything to get rid of this tension. I'm dying in here._

"Nope." was all Eli said. _It's going to be a long ride_, he thought.

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At the station Shade sat in a containment cell as they waited for the Loonatics to arrive. Speck was not far away as he began to grumble about them not being there yet.

"How long does it take for them to just drive here? Those cops you left there better not mess this up lieutenant."

The lieutenant stiffened as Speck's angry gaze fell on him. "No sir. Those men are some of the finest men we have in this precinct, I assure you. They will got the job done." He spoke confidently, but he was a little worried. The three men were good cops for the most part, but they all had their flaws. Jay was pessimistic and cynical when he was in a good mood. In a bad mood he could be bitter and down right unpleasant to be around. Andy was a good kid but he was still a rookie. He was easily excited and did not do very well under pressure or deal with stress well. Eli was by far the most reliable of the three, but even he had some blips in his track record. He had a notorious steak of disobeying orders and being **very **argumentative. He also had a relatively short temper. Despite all that the lieutenant still had faith in them.

Speck did not look convinced but only turned back and mumbled "They'd better. We need to get this guy in the maximum security prison ASAP."

Suddenly a commotion was heard from the hallway that lead to this part of the station. Soon voices could be heard.

"I'm telling you its all cosmetics. I've guarded her personally. Behind the makeup she's not that…" one voice said.

"Shut up! You don't know what you're talking about!" said another more agitated voice than the first.

"Both of you shut up!" a third hard and stern voice said.

"I was just saying…"

"I don't want to hear any more." as he was saying this Eli and the rest of that group burst through the door to the holding area.

"Misty breeze is the most beautiful woman in the world and you know it." Duck said as he crossed his arms, closed his eyes, and look away as if to end the argument.

"You're diluted, or maybe you have a concussion from getting you butt handed to you by that shady guy." Jay answered smugly.

"**I said both of you**…shut…up…" Eli shouted, then slowed as he saw whom this argument was taking place in front of. "Commissioner Speck sir." He saluted and the other two officers did as well.

This sight did not amuse Speck. He glared at Eli then at the lieutenant. "Some of your finest men lieutenant?" The lieutenant started to sweat as he rushed for something to say. As he opened his mouth however Speck just said, "Never mind." Then he turned his attention to the Loonatics. "Are you all alright?" he asked this, but it was clear that it was just a formality and he really could not care less.

"Yeah sure, we're fine. Now about Shade..." Ace said as he tried to get right to business.

"Right. I thought you would want to be here before he was taken away so I had him put in a holding cell." He started moving toward the cell and everyone followed. He stopped and turned around to face the three officers. "Can I help you men with something?" he asked testily.

Eli got the message and said "No sir." Then he turned around and left, quickly followed by Jay and Andy.

The Loonatics and Speck soon say Shade sitting on a bench with his arms behind his back and his head down.

"Hey! Wake up." Speck shouted as he banged on the bars. Shad's head rose and he looked at where the sound came from. Once he saw the Loonatics his face became somewhat brighter, but that was the only visible change. Speck then addressed the Loonatics and Shade. "I have made the decision to move Shade to the maximum security prison immediately."

"Don't I get a trial?" Shade asked with a lack of enthusiasm.

Speck looked at him and the constant scowl on his face was almost replaced by a smirk...almost. "The mayor has allowed me to imprison you there until a trial can be set up. I suggested that holding you in this sort of cell would not be sufficient and that you be moved to a more secure facility."

"Wait…can she do that?" Ace asked as he began to feel a little angry at Speck for going over their heads again.

"No Ace I don't think she can." Tech said in a darker tone. "What you're talking about doing is illegal Speck and you know it."

Once again Speck glared at the coyote. "This is a complicated case and the normal rules and procedures will not work in this situation." He stated gruffly. "Besides, I'm the chief of police and I've already got the support of the mayor. The law is what I say it is."

"And they say **I'm **the criminal." Shade made this joke in a blank voice that only served to make it even funnier...at least to the Loonatics. It only served to enrage Speck.

Before He could go on a tirade Ace spoke up. "Well if security is the issue, why not just let us hold him? We're probably better equipped to handle a guy like him. Right Tech?"

Tech looked in on Shade then put his hand on his chin in thought. "Yes suppose I could whip-up a containment cell for him."

"Absolutely not!" Speck bellowed. "You have already shown you're inability to deal with a criminal of this caliber."

"What-about-the-other-inmates-wont-they-be-in-danger?" Rev suddenly asked.

"He's right." Shade said and everyone looked at him. "If I were put into a prison filled with criminals…I'm not sure if I could control myself. I might end up killing them and any one else who got in my way...including the guards. And I'm sure my opinion don not matter to you, but if I had to chose…I would prefer to go in with the Loonatics."

Speck glared at him then at the Loonatics. He let out an audible growl then said "Fine! You take him." Then as he stomped away he said, "Just make sure he does **NOT **get away!" then he slammed the door and was out of sight.

"Well then I guess your coming with us Shade. And thanks for the bode of confidence." Ace said as he smiled at their new prisoner/roommate. Then he frowned slightly. "Uh…did Speck give any of you guys the key to this cell?" he asked the rest of his team but they all shook their heads 'no'.

"Don't worry about that Ace." Shade said as he stood up. "I'll handle it." Then as they looked on in amazement the Loonatics saw him walk through the bars as if they were nonexistent. As he did this, his form was distorted as if he were a cloud of smoke moving around the bars. Then there was a metallic 'clink'. He turned his head and was able to see that his cuffs were preventing him from getting completely out. This problem was quickly fixed as the cuffs fell **through **his wrists and landed on the floor.

"There we are. Shall we go now?" He addressed the stunned Loonatics. _Maybe these next few days wont be as bad as I thought._

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**That was Ch5. It's taking longer not only because I want to be more accurate but also inspiration is low and distractions are high. Fear not though, I shall complete this story no matter what. I hate when stories are left hanging and are never finished, so I will not do that to you. I added the three cops as a sper of the moment thing to add some flavor to the story. I might use them again. Doyou want that? R&R. **

****EDIT**: ****I made a little change to this because I found something really horrifying. How could Shade have his arms crossed over his chest if he was wearing handcuffs? I can handle problems with grammar and spelling (even if they do get me very irritated at myself) but if there is one thing I will NOT allow in my story, it's an error in continuity.**


	6. Do Not Pass Go

**Ch6: Hello. I have a question for you people out there. Is everybody understanding Shade and his powers or is there any thing you are confused on in general? If so just ask in a review or send me a message and I'll try to settle it (I probably should have put this in the last chapter…but oh well). CadillacJack: Intense? That was actually my attempt at humor. But thanks anyway. OD3000: It all started with Shadow-Rose99 and a story she did. Anyway…**

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The Loonatics and Shade arrived at the tower only one or two hours after they left the station. Once they got there they all entered into the elevator and began the long ride to the top.

"So Tech…" Shade began to converse since he could tell it was going to be a prolonged journey. "…what exactly are you planning on using to contain me…if you don't mind me asking?"

"Well to be perfectly honest…I am having some trouble figuring that out." Tech admitted. "The fact that you can, apparently, simply move your body through most, if not all, solid objects is going to be a significant problem to overcome." _Maybe I should not have told him that._ Tech momentarily wondered if it was a wise decision to be so forthcoming with Shade.

Before he could render a verdict on the matter Rev spoke. "Hey-yeah-how-do-you-do-that-anyway-I-mean-it's-not-every-day-you-see-a-person-walk-directly-through-solid-metal-jail-cell-bars-and-not-to-mention-making-the-cuffs-fall-off-which-I-thought-was-really-cool-by-the-way-so-is-that-just-another-part-of-your-powers-or-is-it-something-else?" Once Rev stopped he got a strange feeling from somewhere. Suddenly he figured out what it was. _I just finished an entire thought without someone clamping my beak shut or telling me to shut up or anything. _This was truly a strange occurrence. Usually nobody, not even his own teammates, could stand to listen to him talk for more than a few seconds or so. And yet there was Shade standing there, patiently waiting for him to finish. _That's a first. It felt kind of...good to __**finally**__ be able to just talk and not have to worry if I'm going to be yelled at or something, _he thought as a small smirk spread onto his face.

Once he was sure Rev was done talking Shade began to explain. "Yes I can go through most solid objects and materials. As to how I do this, it's a bit complicated. I myself am not completely sure how I do it. I just think of going through the object and it happens. If I had to give an explanation I would say that darkness has no physicalform or solid shape. It is more of a presence than an actual object. Things move through darkness with ease and since I am essentially darkness in a physical form I also have that property." After giveing it a little more thought he continued, "In more scientific terms, I can manually control the density of the molecules in my body, thus allowing other solid objects to pass in-between them. On the other hand, I can also make them closer to make my body denser so it absorbs impacts and damage better...does that make any sense?"

Everyone looked to Tech for confirmation as he mulled over the information he had just received. "Yes that is a sound scientific explanation I think. Unfortunately it does not really help me in devising a containment system." He said this with a bit of worry in his voice as he continued to think of a viable way to contain Shade.

"Then may I make a few suggestions? I'm sure you could figure out an ingenious method of containing me…eventually, but I assume that you six want to get me 'behind bars' as quickly as possible." He spoke in the calm, soothing, slightly intoxicating tone he almost always used. So even though his words may have sounded rude and mocking, the Loonatics could tell that was not the point he was trying to make. In fact, the only flaw in his otherwise eloquent speech seemed to be the strange rasp that was constantly present in his voice, but it was a minor flaw at best.

All the Loonatics stared at him as if he had just sprouted wings after he said this. Duck finally voiced the question that everyone was thinking. "So you want to give us **advice **on how to **imprison **you? Why?"

Shade looked down at the floor for a moment then said, "…Because I'm a nice person?" He said this almost as a question as the others continued to stare at him. "So do you want my help or not?" He asked.

Again Tech looked troubled by this new problem. _Well…what harm can it do? _"Ok. What type of suggestions do you have in mind?"

"Just two. First, for whatever reason, I have trouble with moving through glass. I don't know why, but I have found it quite difficult in the past. The second Suggestion I can give is that you use some type of force field to help contain me. You see…I can move through most solids, liquids, and gases without much difficulty, but not force fields or lasers…any plasmas substance really."

"Gllarglbblplasmas?" Slam asked in his strange garbled speech.

"It's one of the fore states of matter: solid, liquid, gas, and plasma." Tech explained.

"A-good-example-of-plasma-in-everyday-life-is-an-open flame-and-there-is-also plasma-in-your-blood." Rev also helped in the explanation.

"Right. So I hope that will help." said Shade.

"Yes…yes I believe it will help a great deal." Tech replied as his head was now filled with all kinds of possibilities. They all finally heard the 'ding' that signaled that they had reached the appropriate floor of the tower.

Tech and the others moved out of the elevator but Shade remained still. "Your welcome." He said rather loudly causing Tech and the others to look at him. He simply cocked his eyebrow slightly and Tech got the message.

"Oh…yes…thank you for your assistance." Tech said a little uncertainly. Shade only nodded and stepped out of the elevator and found himself in, what he assumed to be, the living area.

_Even I'm allowed to have a little fun from time to time…even if I can't show that I'm having fun. Well this is very nice, _Shade thought as he looked around at the large room filled with all kinds of electronics and several recreational items._ They are well funded I see…maybe too well for their own good. But that's a problem to worry about latter. _"So…" he began out loud, "…where should I go?"

"Well I have an idea for a containment cell, but it will take a little time to put together." Tech said as he still was working on mentally drawing the blueprints for the new device.

"Then you better get on it." Ace said. "In the mean time, why don't we all just sit here and relax." He said this as he moved over to a couch and sat down.

"Why do we all have to wait in here? I'll have you know it's been hours since I got any actual sleep and…" Duck began his usually routine of wining and complaining but was cut off by Lexi when she grabbed his arm and pulled him down onto a couch next to her.

"Ah come on Duck. It's just some quality time together." Then she leaned in closer and said in a lower voice, "And we need to keep an eye on our new roommate…just in case. So stop acting like such a baby **ok**."

He rolled his eyes and huffed, "Oh sure…nothing like **quality time**. Much better than sleeping." Slam sat next to Ace on the couch and Shade sat in a chair that was out of the circle of furniture.

Rev remained standing and zipped over to Tech. "Do-you-need-any-help-building-your-new-machine-or-cell-or-what-ever-your-building?" He asked excitedly. He always loved helping Tech with his inventing. _Actual…I just love being around him period, _Rev thought this but would never say it.

"Yes Rev, your assistance would be helpful." So the two walked off toward Tech's lab to start the building process. "I was thinking of starting with several large…" he started to explain his idea to Rev but his voice was cut off as they entered the lab and the door closed behind them.

So Ace, Lexi, Slam, Duck, and Shade sat in the living room together. An unnerving silence dominated the room for a long time when it was suddenly broken by the sound of a low rumbling. All the Loonatics looked at Slam at first, but after seeing him shake his head they traced the sound back to its true source. The rumbling was, much to his embarrassment, coming from Shade. _Dame…this is going to be awkward, _he thought as they all stared at him.

"Hey Shade…when was the last time you ate something?" Lexi asked.

He looked a tad bid sheepish now as he asked, "What day is it?"

"Thursday." Lexi replied. Shade then leaned back and began to count on his fingers as he looked up at the ceiling in thought. One…two…three…four…**five**…**SIX!**

"You haven't eaten in **six days!" **Ace asked as he leaned forward in shock.

Shade only shrugged and said, "It's not that big of a deal really. I'm not going to die any time soon." He tried to calm their obvious concern but Lexi would not hear of it.

She stood up suddenly and said, "Well you eating now."

Shade grimaced slightly. "That's really not necessary. I'm not that…" but before he could even finish she walked out of the room and into the kitchen to prepare them all breakfast. **(A/N: We'll say it is about 7ish in the morning)**

"Good." Duck said as he stretched out on the now empty couch. "I'm starving…and tired." He added the last part as he put his hands behind his head and closed his eyes.

_I have to agree with him there, _Ace though as he too was feeling the effects of hunger and fatigue. _That was one rough night now that I think of it. _As he felt his eyelids becoming heavier and heavier he leaned back into the soft couch cushions, but before he could drift away into the sweet embrace of sleep a small flash caught his eye. He sat up again and saw that the flash came from the light reflecting off of Shade's revolvers' silver handle. This immediately woke Ace up as he now thought about what to do about this. _How could I have forgotten about that?_ "Hey Shade…I don't suppose you want to just hand over that gun of yours?" he asked as he pointed at the deadly weapon on Shade's hip.

Shade looked down at his revolver then sighed in frustration. "Not this again." he said more to himself than to the others, but then he remembered something. "Oh yeah…you would not have been conscious during my…conversation with Speck. So long story short, nobody can take my gun without having harm coming to them, so I'm afraid that it stays with me." As he saw and felt the growing hostility in the room he added, "But I suppose I could give you all the bullets. That's the best I can do."

Slam started to get up from the couch and was fully prepared to take the weapon by force but stopped when Ace said, "I guess that will have to do." So he got up off the couch and Shade also stood. Shade slowly put his hand behind his back and brought it back holding a leather pouch. He then threw it over to Ace who caught it with a small jingle. _It's heavier than I would have expected, _he thought as he held it in one hand. _It has to weigh ten pounds at least._ He began to walk away but then he thought of something else. "Shade…I'm going to need the bullets from in the chambers." He said this as he turned back around to face Shade.

Shade could feel a smile tugging at his face, but was able to fight it off. _I was wondering if he was going to remember that. _As he thought this he pulled out the revolver and flicked it to the left, causing its six round chamber to open. Once it was open he took out the bullets and put them in his hand. Once all the chambers were empty he handed the rounds over to Ace. Ace noticed that all the bullets were completely black instead of the golden-copper color that ammo like this usually was. _Black seems to be a consistent theme with this guy, _Ace thought to himself and smiled a little.

As all this was happening Duck remained in his relaxed position but was watching the whole event intently. He may have been tired…and lazy, but he still didn't trust this guy any further that he could throw him (and that was not very far). So it was Duck who noticed that Shade handed over four bullets from his six-shooter. _Hey wait…he only shot Sypher with one bullet…so where's the fifth bullet? _So now he sat up and asked just that question. "Say…why did you give him four bullets?"

"Because I only had four left." Shade said as he looked at Duck with a hint of confusion.

"That's a six-shooter, and we saw you fire one bullet…so where is the other one? Who else did you kill tonight anyway?" he asked this in a very accusatory tone.

"Actually Duck…its common knowledge that you should never keep a revolver fully loaded. If you do there is a higher chance of accidentel discharge, and it would be just terrible if my gun were to accidentally go off and hit a pedestrian…or **me**."

"What would happen if you got shot with one of your own bullets?" Ace asked as he thought about where best to put the mass of ammunition he was now in charge of.

"I don't know and I have no intention of finding out." He said simply.

"Hey guys," Lexi's voice came from the kitchen, "breakfast is ready." Once that was said the tension in the room was instantly removed and they all headed into the kitchen.

"Bout time." Duck said as he sat down and started digging in.

"Should we go get Tech and Rev?" Shade asked as he sat down at the dining table as well.

Ace just smile and said, "Nah, they'll be fine. This wouldn't be the first meal that those two have skipped to keep working on some project. I'll bet we would just be bothering them."

Shade shrugged and decided to start eating. "If you say so." _I can't wait to see what Tech might have come up with…even if I basically had to spell it out for him._

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"…And that's how it's going to work." Tech said as he finished explaining his plan to Rev.

Rev was standing on the other side of the blueprint table that was in Tech's lab, staring at the incredible design that Tech had been able to come up with in only a few minuets. "Wow-Tech-that's-amazing-and-phenomenal-and-magnificent-and-"

"Thank you Rev." Tech felt the need to interrupt Rev before he was allowed to go to far into his ranting about his genius, something that he was prone to doing. Not that Tech didn't enjoy the mild ego stroking he received from his best friend from time to time, but right now they had work to do. "Now I believe that we should get to work. Like Shade said, we need to 'put him behind bars' as quickly as we can."

"Right-so-were-do-we-start-huh-huh-huh?" Rev asked in a giddy and excited voice (he was even hopping slightly as he waited for his instructions).

"Well first we have to go to the supply room and pick up the necessary components and materials." Tech said as he moved over to the section of his lab where he kept a stockpile of materials of various types ranging from chemicals and tools to raw building and manufacturing materials. Tech moved over to this area and began picking out what was needed and handed them over to Rev, who then brought them over to the work area. Tech then emerged from the storage room with the last piece of equipment and began arranging the gathered materials in the order they would be needed. Rev also helped him in this process as he took the instructions of Tech.

As he worked, though, a question formed in Rev's mind. "Hey-Tech?" he asked as he and Tech both continued to work.

"Yes Rev?" Tech replied as he moved a few pieces of metal near the welding apparatus he had brought out and waited for Rev to continue.

Rev paused for a moment to think of the best way to present his question to Tech. "What-do-you-think-of-Shade? Do-you-really-think-he-deserves-to-be-in-jail-cause-I'm-not-sure-if-I-do-I-mean-I-know-that-what-he-does-is-wrong-or-I-think-that's-what-I-think-because-part-of-me-thinks-that-way-but-another-part-of-me-thinks-he-may-have-a-point-when-he-says-that-he-is-a-necessary-evil-and-maybe-it's-ok-for-him-to-be-doing-what-he-does-because-he-does-have-good-intentions-behind-his-actions-so-what-do-you-think?" Once again Rev was a surprised that he had been able to continue talking for as long as he had just been. Tech was almost always the one to clamp his beak shut, mostly because Tech was the only member of he team he really felt that comfortable with. He appreciated that the others seemed to realize this and never said anything about it.

Tech stopped working then and looked at Rev with a dark look on his face. "Rev…if we look to the history books we see that some of the worst crimes and human atrocities have been committed with **good intentions**in mind." His voice was just as dark as his face appeared and Rev had to wonder why Tech had suddenly taken on such a serious attitude all of a sudden. Only moments ago he had been almost as excited about this new project as Rev was, but not any more. Tech continued, "In this particular case the ends do not meet the means. At this point, I am convinced that the safest place for Shade to be is in our custody and not out on the streets. We cannot allow a man like Shade to do what he wants to do." He said all this in a stern and firm tone that Rev rarely heard from him. He thought about arguing his point but decided not to. He was simply too intimidated at this point. He wasn't exactly afraid of Tech, but he still didn't feel like arguing with him while he was in this strange mood. So instead the two went on working in relative silence.

_Jeez, I wonder what's got Tech acting this way? _Rev thought this as he continued to work with Tech, occasionally casting fleeting glances at him. _I might have to talk to him about it…later, _after looking again at Tech he added, _much later._

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The four men in the kitchen quickly devoured the breakfast that Lexi had prepared. Some did it in a more civilized manner than others, and of coarse there was the expected argument between Duck and Slam about who was eating more like a slob. This was all very amusing to Shade…even if he refused to show it.

As the five were about to begin the argument of who would be the one to do the dishes, Rev came into the kitchen. "Hey-guys-its-all-set-up-so-if-you-want-to-head-into-the-hanger-we-can-get-Shade…" he decided to stop and address Shade directly instead of acting like he wasn't there. _I do __**not**__ want to end up insulting him. Wouldn't want to end up on his bad side._ "…we-can-get-you…" he again paused, this time to try and find a nice way of saying 'imprisoned'

"Incarcerated?" Shade himself offered and saw Rev nod in agreement. This too, was amusing to Shade and he was finding it harder and harder to keep his emotionless patina intact.

So the six now went down the hall from the kitchen to the hanger. "Why did you two have to put this new…thing in the hanger instead of in Tech's lab?" Ace asked as he walked beside Rev down to the hanger area.

"Well-it-was-for-a-lot-of-reasons-actually-but-the-main-one-was-Tech-said-he-needed-his-privacy-and-that-he-really-did-not-feel-comfortable-having-a-guy-like-Shade-so-close-to-all-the-stuff-in-his-lab…no-offence-Shade." He quickly added the last part again in an effort to avoid insulting him.

Shade merely shrugged and said "None taken. I can see where Tech's feeling are coming from I suppose."

Finally they all reached the hanger and entered into it. Once inside they saw the fruit of Tech and Rev's labor (which totaled up to a little over thirty-five minuets of actual work). _Tech never ceases to amaze me when it comes to this inventing stuff, _Ace thought as he gazed at what he assumed to be the new containment cell. From what he saw it was a just a big box, maybe 8x8x8, with a large piece of machinery off to the left side of it.

"Welcome…" Tech greeted his teammates and Shade, "And behold my newest creation." He said this as he gestured to a large case of some sort. "This is the 'Tech E. Coyote Specialized Containment Unit And Holding Apparatus'. This…" he said pointing to a wall of the clear material, "…Is 3in thick bulletproof glass and all the walls and the ceiling and floor are made of this substance. It is held together with steel bars on the outer corners and a special, high strength, adhesive on the inside corners." Then he moved over to the larger machine to the left of the cell itself. "This is what will be used to provide the second, plasmas, layer to the containment apparatus. It is a very simple machine. I used the principles of my magnetic abilities to surround the cell with a magnetic field which should keep Shade inside, and it also helps hold the cell together thanks to the steel reinforcing bars around the corners. The only entry and exit point is this door." He points to a glass door set into one of the walls with a small knob and keypad. The door was largely made of the same glass as the rest of the walls. "Once this door is shut it is absolutely impossible to open it from the inside. Also, the entire cell is completely air tight."

As he finished his sentence a slightly worried look came across Shade's face. "Umm…Tech? I may have forgotten to mention that I still need to **breath **in order to live."

Tech smirked at this. "Of course. That is why I put in the air recycling system." He pointed to a small boxy machine in one corner of the cell.

"And you're sure that it works…right?" Shade asked to make all his fears settle.

"**Yes** I'm sure it works. I built it myself after all." he said proudly.

"I know I wouldn't want to be in there either way." Duck muttered to him self, earning a sharp glare from Tech.

After a moment of appraisal Shade actually began to quietly and slowly applaud Tech and his invention. "I would be happy to stay in this cell." he said as he moved over to the door, had it opened by Tech and walked in. Once inside the door was closed and a low hissing sound was heard. Inside Shade found modest accommodations. It was relatively small, but nothing to complain about. There was a one person cot to sleep on, a small table and chair to eat on and sit on respectively. Over in one corner there was a circular curtain that concealed a small bathroom like area and near the door there was a coat rack. _Not bad…not bad at all I guess. Could have been a lot worse. I'm still glad I'm here rather than in actual prison_. He then looked over at the oxygen recycler in one of the four corners and heard a faint humming coming from it. He quickly made the decision to stay away from it as much as possible, to avoid accidentally damaging the one thing that was currently keeping him alive.

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As Shade began to get acclimatizes to his new 'home' Tech turned on his magnetic force field generator, which only produced a slight buzzing that signaled that it was on. It also made the cell appear wavy and distorted a little, but not severely. Ace motioned Tech over near the rest of them when he was done with the machine so he could discus something with his team. "Nice work Tech…as usual." Ace congratulated the genius in the standard way.

"It was no problem chief." Tech replied with a casual wave of his hand. To be honest he was rather proud of this latest containment system, but he wasn't really the boastful type.

"Right. Now I have total faith in your machine and everything…but I think we can do one more thing to make sure that he doesn't try anything. I think one of us should be watching him."

"Like for how long?" Duck asked as he was suddenly overcome with the feeling of dread that he usually got when he was about to be forced to do a lot of hard, boring, or just plain tedious work.

"All day, every day. We can do it in shifts" Ace replied. He saw Duck prepare to start moaning and griping so he quickly said, "I'll take the first shift so you all go get some rest." Nobody had the energy to really argue at this point so they all nodded and headed to there own rooms to follow Ace's orders.

Before he left Tech said, "You can communicate with him if you flip the blue switch on the keypad." Then as he saw Ace nod he left.

Ace pulled up a wooden chair that was in the hanger and flipped the indicated switch on the keypad. "Hey Shade…can you hear me in there?" he asked.

Shade looked at him and replied. "Yeah, I can hear you."

"Good, cause I'm going to be spending some time with you for the next say…two hours." Ace said as he sat down on the chair and tried to make himself comfortable.

Shade looked at the cocky, confident rabbit as he sat there looking back at him. "Well…that's awfully nice of you." As he said this a smile once again threatened to break out across his face. _This could be quite…interesting._

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**GOD this took so long to write!!!! I just feel bad for you people out there. Hopefully the next chapter will not take so long. R&R ok.**


	7. Geting To Know You

**Ch7: Hello. Something I noticed and I'm wondering if you did too. If you pay attention to the time frame of my story then you find that all the events of chapters 2-6 and this one take place within about nine or ten hours. That's a lot of action for such a relatively short time span. Is that something that bothers any of you? I would appreciate it if you told me your thoughts on this. Well lets get started ok.**

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As Shade saw Ace making himself comfortable he decided to do the same by making use of the coat rack. He took off his hat, then removed the cape from around his neck. An interesting thing was that as soon as he did it lost it's fire-like qualities and became like a standard fabric. Once that was done he too pulled up the chair that was in his cell and sat down facing Ace. _If I have to be in here I'm just glad I've got some company._ As he thought this he began appraising Ace, this was simply a habit he had developed ever since he had begun his 'work' a few months ago. His keen eyes saw that the usually cocky and somewhat energetic rabbit was now quiet and sluggish. He was obviously fighting the effects of fatigue from the long ordeal that was last night. "You know Ace…if you want to take a nap or something you can. Its not like I'm going anywhere." He said this to Ace mostly to see how he would react. He did not expect him to just take a nap with a 'dangerous criminal' like himself only a few feet away…cage or not. His expectations proved to be right (as they usually were).

"Nah I'm fine doc." Ace said as he waved his arm in a dismissive manner. "I wouldn't want you to get lonely after all." He said this as a sly smile crept onto his face. _Boy this guy is a piece of work, _Ace thought as he looked at Shade. With is cape and hat removed he was able to see more of Shade's features. He had a full head of jet-black hair that was cut short. _I bet he doesn't have any problems with the ladies either. _As he thought this the smile grew.

The humor of Ace's statement was not lost on Shade. "Like I said before, its very kind of you to keep me company." At that point he decided it would be a good idea to try and drum up some other conversation. "So Ace…your looking a little tired. I guess we both had busy nights. At least you got to rest for…what was it? Around twenty minuets…after I knocked you out." He paused for a moment to gage Ace's reaction. When he saw the look of mild amusement of his face Shade decided it was safe to continue on that same subject. "No hard feelings by the way." he said with the slightest bit of humor in his voice.

"Yeah, no hard feelings. We were doing what we had to and so were you, and you beat us fair and square." He stopped then decided to add a little humor of his own. "I appreciate you decided to go non-lethal when you fought us."

"You should consider yourself lucky. I don't usually let people walk away from confrontations with me." he said. "Though, usually I have a better reason to be fighting them in the first place, but like you said, we were just doing what we had to do."

"Yeah. Why aren't you tired? You had just as long a night as us right?" Ace asked. He was generally stumped as to how this man could look so alert after the night he knew he had just been through.

"Well…it's the same as the whole eating thing. Its just not that important at this point. I've got better things to be doing at night than sleep. I work best at night after all. Sure I might be tired, but you just man up and deal with it and move on." Shade replied with his unshakable coolness.

Ace was impressed. _This guy is…what? Amazing? He's just a rock. Perfect super hero material. _Then he stopped and corrected himself. _Crime fighter material._ He knew it was important to remember that this man's mission involved killing people, and that was not to be tolerated. Not by him, not by his team, not by the police, and not by the people of the city. But that didn't mean he couldn't be friendly toward the guy right?

So the two spent the next hour or so making casual small talk. They talked a little about everything. Ace brought up things like sports, training, movies, and favorite parts of and things to do in the city. Shade leaned more toward cultured subjects. Such as art, music, politics, and literature…things Ace knew little about. He wasn't a big patron of the arts but he still was able to contribute some things to the over all conversation and it was pretty enjoyable. After about an hour and a half Ace decided that his shift was over and left to wake the next person and get some sleep. The unlucky person who he woke happened to be Tech (since his room was the room Ace found himself in front of after wearily stumbling down the hallway). So Tech agreed to take the next shift and went into the hanger.

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As he saw Tech enter Shade grew intrigued. _Well Ace is nice and all, but he's just not the type of guy I like to' hang out' around. Tech on the other hand has...potential?_ He thought this as he greeted Tech. "Good morning." he said rather cheerily.

Tech looked a little shocked as he heard this and sat down in the wooden chair. "Yes…good morning." He repeated the greeting with a little sarcasm. He had pulled all-nighters before, but he still did not like them very much. "So…how are you finding your accommodations?" he asked as he worked to get the fog out of his mind and wake up.

"Oh its very nice. Your really out did yourself I think." He offered this as genuine praise to the coyote. He could tell that he was the kind of inventor who looked for such things. This may not have been as obvious to others, but Shade had become a very good judge of character. _Might as well throw him a bone I guess. _As he thought this he suddenly realized the gravity of what he had just thought and, despite his best efforts, a small smirk appeared on his face.

And indeed Tech did appreciate the compliment. At first he was a little flattered, then he saw the smirk on Shades face and grew suspicious. "Well I appreciate that, but what, might I ask, is so funny as to get you to actually **smile**? As long as I've known you I have never seen that. Granted I haven't known you all that long." He really had no idea what could have broken the stone-cold attitude that normally prevailed over Shade.

As he heard Tech's question Shade had to struggle fiercely to keep from actually laughing out loud. He was able to regain his composure and return to his calm, more sedate state. "Nothing…just thinking about something else." He knew he had to change the subject quickly to ensure that no more 'outbursts' of emotion were to arise. "So…I see that you six are very well funded here."

Tech saw that he was trying to change the subject, but instead of making a big deal out of why he was smiling, he decided to just go along with the conversation. "Yes we are well taken care of. All our expenses are paid for us so that we can focus on stopping criminals."

"Criminals like me." Shade said this to get a feel for just how Tech thought of him. He was able to notice that Tech was looking tense and edgy in his chair. Perhaps it was something else, but he assumed that Tech was uncomfortable with talking to him. He had to wonder if this coyote had some kind of grudge against him.

"I think you would agree that you're a different sort of criminal than the sort that we usually go after." Tech said cautiously.

"Yes, I guess that is true." Then Shade had an idea. "But what makes me so 'special'…in your mind?"

"Well your goals are genuinely admirable…its your methods that are criminal."

"In you mind." Shade countered.

"In many people minds." Tech replied.

"But not all people."

"Enough people I'm sure."

"Enough to keep me behind bars." Shade said this with a much humor as he was willing to use.

"With any luck." Tech had a smirk on his face now. Some people might have been insulted or offended, but Shade only found this brand of humor very amusing.

After this rather tense conversation Shade thought it would be a good idea to try a lighter subject. "So…bad weather lately."

"Yes. I never enjoy rainy weather. Being of a desert species, or at least the descendant of one, I was originally deigned for long stretches of dryness, not constant precipitation." Tech replied as he decided to simply go along with the conversation. He was still slightly asleep at this point and was unable to do much else than just keep talking about whatever Shade mentioned.

After some thought Shade suddenly thought of something rather disturbing. "Say Tech…do you really think it makes sense to live in a building like this in this weather? Isn't it dangerous?"

"How do you mean?" Tech asked puzzled.

Shade looked at him a little crookedly. "Living in a tall, largely metallic building during a thunder storm. You don't find any problem with that?" Shade asked a little shocked himself. _It's not that hard to figure out. Just putting two and two together really. _

Tech thought about what Shade's point was and then realized what he was trying to say. "Yes I suppose that there could be a risk." After looking down for a moment in thought he said, "I think it's time for some one else to take over the watch." As he said this he stood and made his way to the door.

"Your leaving already?" Shade asked in a dramatized disappointed voice. "It's only been…half an hour? I guess time fly's when you're having such an interesting chat with the person that built the cage your currently being forced to reside in…not that I'm not grateful that you were able to give me a place to stay and all."

Tech was still surprised to see that every thing that Shade had said was said with the same voice and the same blank mask that hid away any trace of emotion. _He must have incredible self-control to be able to do that. _As he thought this he walked out of the room, making sure to call out over his shoulder. "It was our pleasure." he said as he chuckled a little.

He walked down the hallway and knocked on Lexi's door and she opened it several seconds later. She was obviously still sleepy, but Tech persisted. "It's time for your shift." He said simply. Lexi groaned but obliged by walking out into the hallway (she was still in her uniform).

As she saw Tech head toward the living area she grew curious. "Where are you going Tech? Aren't you going to get any sleep?"

"I have to make a call first." he said as he stopped and turned to her. _She always has to hastle me about this. Her and Ace...and Rev especially. I guess I should be gratfull that I have people that care about me that much...but it still can be a pain._

Lexi would not have been surprised if he went into his lab instead of sleeping. That was a common occurrence, but this was not. She was curious, but she was also tired so she let it go at that. "Okay. Try and get **some **sleep ok."

Tech thought about disagreeing, but after seeing the sincerity in Lexi's eyes he simply sighed and said "Yeah ok." and walked off. Lexi only smiled and walked to the hanger.

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Tech entered into the COM room and prepared the communication systems. There were a few seconds static but eventually the glowing, oddly mystical image of Zadavia came into view.

"Good morning Tech. What can I help you with?" She asked the coyote standing before her.

"Zadavia…" Tech started hesitantly. _How exactly should I put this? _"Is this tower vulnerable to…lighting strikes?"

Zadavialooked confused for a moment, then she began to really think about what Tech had just asked her. "I'm not sure to be honest with you Tech." she finally said after thinking for a moment.

"Well…I'll have to investigate that soon." He said as his mind was now setting to the new task, but a lingering thought distracted him. _That man continues to confuse me…deeply._

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Lexi walked into the hanger and prepared to sit down. For whatever reason, Shade had decided to get a little more comfortable in his surroundings. He had taken off his black, long sleeve, button up shirt and revealed the black tank top that was underneath. With only the tank top on Lexi could see that his upper body was well toned and muscular, but not to an extreme degree. The muscle mass fit very well with his height. He also had a nice tan to go along with it.

As he was putting his shirt on the hanger and putting his boots (that were black) near the door to the cell he saw she was standing there. If he was surprised or embarrassed he did not show it at all. "Oh, hello Lexi. How are you this morning?" He said this very casually.

Shade might not have been uncomfortable, but Lexi was. "Oh uh…I'm fine…how are you?" she asked shakily. Normally she was not the type of girl to just start drooling over some guy, bit Shade was something else entirely. He was almost the very definition of the word 'hunk'…and that fact was inescapable.

Shade saw the slightly bewildered look on Lexi's face and even the redness on her checks. _Oh no. That is NOT good,_ he thought as he realized what this could mean. _No…no I'm sure it's something else, _he tried to reassure himself as he sat down and invited Lexi to do the same. "I'm fine…considering. " he said dryly. _I had better turn off the charm...just in case. I don't need any crushes to worry about._

Several moments of awkward silence followed as Shade stared out at Lexi and she tried to avoid his gaze. "So Shade," Lexi finally broke the silence with a question that may not have been very well thought out, "When you did that interview you said that you had been going about your 'job' for a month. How many people have you…well…uh..."

"Killed?" Shade finished as he saw Lexi begin to struggle with the final words of the question. "A lot more than people know...low hundreds I think. I don't really keep track." The nonchalant tone he used was chilling. After seeing how Lexi began to look at him and squirm he sighed heavily. "Pleas don't look at me like that Lexi. I'm not trying to be the bad guy." Then as they continued to look at each other Shade made a realization. "You think I enjoy it don't you." he asked in a low tone.

"Well…how else could you do it? Why else **would **you do it?" she asked. "I mean...you kill people for a living. I know I couldn't do that. So why do you do it if you don't enjoy it a little."

Shade leaned forward in his chair until he was staring at his hands that were laced into each other. He stayed like this for a moment then spoke. "Ok Lexi…I'll tell you why I do this." he said in a hushed tone. He looked up and their eyes met once again. Now, however, Shade looked completely different. The calm, blank vainer was now replaced by emotion, one emotion in particular…pain. His eyes that had once been so cold and hollow were deep pools of sadness. "About a year ago I was just a regular man…even with the addition of my powers. I owned and operated a small gas station…with my wife Elisa." He stopped for a moment and face became somewhat brighter. "God she was beautiful...short...red, curly hair, big blue eyes and red curly hair...just gorgeous." His voice then becamelow and more hoarse than usual. "We lived and worked in a bad neighborhood that was controlled by a local crime lord. Drugs, gambling, prostitution, he did it all and the police didn't care…not as long as he paid them…but we got by fine. Once the meteor hit it did some damage that we had to fix otherwise the city would have shut us down. We fixed it, the only problem was that we couldn't afford the 'protection payments' that were required of us. He found that out and sent a bunch of his goons to destroy my station…which they did, but I wasn't about to just let them walk away." He paused for a moment. He suddenly wasn't focusing on Lexi or anything in the room. He was just talking like he was in a trance. "I only managed to get two of them…but I got them. Once the crime lord heard I killed some of his men…he got mad. One day I came home from the store…I ran out to get some stuff…milk, eggs…bread, butter…the essentials…she wanted to do it but I insisted on going myself…and she was gone. The police gave up after three days…then they found a body in an ally five days latter." Again he paused to compose himself, but it was becoming more and more difficult.

Lexi saw his eyes beginning to show a look of mild horror and were glossing over. "Shade…" she began softly but he continued anyway.

"They called me down to the hospital to confirm the identity…it was her alright. They tortured her for five days. First they raped her…the doctor said it must have been about fifteen or twenty times. After they finished with that they moved on to more…substantial punishment." His voice was now shaky and his breathing was low and deep. "They cut her fingers and toes off…pulled out her hair…cut the skin off her legs and burned her arms and chest...once they were done with all that they finally cut her stomach open and…and gutted her like a fish…it was at that point that they figured out that she was four weeks pregnant...pregnant with my first child." Lexi thought he might have been done but she was wrong. "The trial was a sham. The crime lord threw money at the judge, the jury, the police, and the doctors. Random people testified on his behalf and he and every one of his men got away free and clear. He didn't even have the decency to put up a scapegoat so the case was labeled...**unsolved.**" Shade now looked very tired, as if telling the story was draining the energy out of him, but still he continued. "So I did the only thing I could…I went after them…all of them. I hunted down every single man in his gang and every person that had ever helped him in any way. Needless to say it took awhile, but I got it done. But even then I didn't enjoy it." As he finished the story he was finally able to gain control over himself and took on the mask of indifference. "So that's why I do what I do Lexi. If you'll excuse me I'm feeling a little...tired and I'd like to get some sleep." As he said this he stood up and moved over to the cot in his cell.

"Oh…ok." was all Lexi could say in response. She was both shocked and horrified, but also impressed. _To think that some one who has been through so much can act the way he does…it's amazing__**. He**__ is amazing._ These were Lexi's thoughts as she watched Shade lay down on the cot to rest. _I might have to rethink how I feel about this guy. He really is something special._

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**Slowly but surly I guess. Can I write a tearjerker or what? But still, I am SO SORRY for the long wait…again (for the last time…hopefully). I don't know why this was so hard to write, it just was, but it's done so we can move on. I will get the next one out sooner. I promises, but what did you think of this chapter? Was it good or not? You know that I live for your reviews. Speaking of which…**

**OD3000: As always I immensely appreciate your loyalty in always reading and reviewing my storeys so promptly. CrazyInSye: I'm glad to hear from you again and I'm glad that you like the story. That was what I was going for in this story, not every one knows how to feel about Shade yet. He is a very complex character don't you think? CadillacJack: Dude...stop apologizing for your late reviews when I have not updated in.......uh......I cant even remember the last time I updated!!!!!! Still I'm glad you like my story so far. I hope you (and many more people) will be patient with me and continue to R&R.**


	8. Unfortunate Events

**Ch8: Hey (a little change this time). I don't know why this fic is taking so long or why it is so hard to write. Maybe it's because I did not plan it out the way I did with my first story. Or maybe it's just a more complex story than the first one. OR maybe it's because I have not had the kind of response I was hoping for. I haven't exactly got the response I was initially accustomed to seeing. The way my first story worked was I would write a chapter, put it on the site, and then I would wait for feedback from you people out there. For this story I have gotten some very nice comments, and I thank everyone who has commented, but it is starting to take longer to get the feedback that I need in order to continue. Take this past chapter, ch7. I uploaded that on Monday (May 10) and it was Saturday (June 5) before I had a review. This does not make me mad so much as it makes me sad…so very, very sad…perhaps if I got more responses it would be easier to write (hint, hint).**

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As Lexi looked in on Shade laying silently on his cot she grew uncomfortable and wondered what she should do next. _Well he could actually be tired…or he might just not want to talk anymore, _she thought. _I wouldn't blame him if he didn't feel like talking after that. I still can't believe what I saw. I mean he was almost crying! Yeah I think I should go._ She finally concluded this and she quietly got up and left.

Shade had his eyes closed but he still noticed this. _Thank god, _he thought as he heard her light footsteps lead her out the sliding door and into the hall. _First I almost start __**laughing**__ in front of Tech and then I'm practically __**crying**__ in front of Lexi. I've never had this much trouble keeping my emotions under control. Maybe I should just stop talking to them all, otherwise who knows how far I might end up going. After all, I have to keep up my image to them and everyone else…still…a little more interaction wouldn't hurt too much…I hope._

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Lexi walked down the hall and knocked on Slams door. After a short while he opened it, grumbling and bearing his teeth menacingly. But when he saw it was Lexi he calmed down some…only some. "Hey Slam. Would you mind taking the next watch?" After seeing him begin to whimper she added, "He's sleeping right now so all you have to do is sit there and watch him…come on. Do it for me?" she pleaded. As he looked at her sweet, beseeching face he finally shook his head and walked off toward the hanger. Lexi smiled and thanked him. After that she walked to the living room. She was too worked up to sleep now and she needed something to do. _Maybe a little TV will get my mind off things. _

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Slam walked into the hanger and sat in the chair as the others had before him. He looked in the cell and saw Shade laying down, apparently asleep. He grinned to himself as he saw an opportunity. He leaned back in the relatively small chair and slowly began to doze off. There was one thing keeping him up though, the force-field generator. It was bothering him because it was producing a low buzzing that was becoming **very **annoying. He made his way over to the device, although he had to wonder how much he was actually going to be able to accomplish. He wasn't the most techno-savvy person in the world after all. But, much to his surprise, once he was in front of the machine he saw a simple console and on the console there was a large red button clearly labeled 'OFF'. Slam pushed the button and saw the green, shimmering field around the cell dissipate and, more importantly, the buzzing stopped. He walked back over to his chair and sat down with a contented sigh.

All this was, again, noticed by Shade as he lay down and 'rested'.

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Tech worked in his lab at the moment. After his brief chat with Zadavia he had gone into his lab and began working on the new issue of just how dangerous a lightning strike to the tower could be and the best way to address the problem. Something, however, was distracting him…Shade. Despite the fact that Tech still had his feelings of anger toward him…he still had to wonder. _Maybe he's right. Maybe he __**is **__a 'necessary evil'...if you can call him 'evil' at all. _He kept trying to tell himself that what Shade was doing was wrong and that the normal crime stopping methods worked just fine, but it was very hard to ignore the logic in Shade's arguments. Once again he shook his head to try and clear his mind and focus on his work. These hopes were crushed as he felt the, all too familiar, gust of air coming from behind him.

"Hey-Tech-what-are-you-doing?" Rev asked as he stood behind Tech at his worktable.

_Great, just what I need…more distractions. _He thought this as he turned to greet his good friend. "Hello Rev. Shouldn't you be sleeping right now? You know how important rest is to a person with the kind of responsibilities you have."

Once he had said this Rev spoke with a smile. "Well-last-time-I-checked-you-and-I-have-the-same-responsibilities-so-why-aren't-**you-**sleeping-I-guess-the-same-rules-don't-aply-to-the-great-Tech-E-Coyote-as-to-the-rest-of-us-mere-mortals."

Tech chuckled lightly. "Yes. You are correct about that." He always found it amusing how Rev was convinced that he was invincible. It was hard for Tech to argue with him about it either. After all, if there was something that could actually permanently injure him he did not know what it was yet and neither did anyone else…or at least that was what he was hoping.

"So-what-are-you-doing-huh-working-on-some-new-invention-or-improvement-or-something?" Rev continued as he tried to peek at the sketches on the table Tech was in front of. From what he could see they were nothing but some rough doodles and calculations at this point.

"Actually I was just doing some thinking. I was wondering if the tower was at any risk of being struck by lightning." Tech answered as he glanced over at the papers he had been drawing on.

This confused Rev somewhat. "And-what-brought-this-up?" he asked.

"Well actually…Shade mentioned it while I was watching him." Tech admitted grudgingly.

This made Rev's smile broaden. "So-he's-turning-out-to-be-helpful-huh-I-guess-he's-not-as-bad-as-you-thought-at-first." he said rather smugly. _I knew he'd come around soon enough, _Rev thought.

"He is not the ruthless, cold hearted murderer I had originally thought. As far as helpful…you could say that I suppose." Once again Tech said this in a strained tone. He really didn't want to admit that his feelings may have been changing.

Despite his efforts to be cryptic about the subject Rev could still see through Tech's charade. "I-thought-you'd-change-your-mind."

"I would not go that far just yet. He is still a criminal in my opinion and I really doubt that is going to change." Tech countered.

"Aw-come-on-Tech-he's-not-really-all-that-bad." Rev tried to convince Tech of the inherent decency that he saw in Shade.

He moved a little closer to Tech as he made another point but Tech beat him to it. "And how would you know that…may I ask?" Tech asked with a little more of a condescending tone than he had intended.

"I-know-he-does-bad-stuff-but-he-can't-be-all-bad-because-what-he-does-is-for-the-greater-good-and-stuff-right."

Rev pressed his opinion once again, but Tech would not hear it. "Rev…the way you can tell a good criminal is their ability to dupe the masses into liking them." he said as he turned back to his worktable. He could feel himself going down a bad road but was unable to stop. "John Dillinger, a bank robber in the 1930s, was popular with people. They loved him even though he was nothing more than a murderer and a thief. It's really sad, then again this trick usually only works on the most desperate or the most foolish people." And there it was. As soon as the sentence left his mouth Tech regretted it. _Oh no,_ was all he could think as he turned back around and saw Rev hanging his head and staring at the ground. "…Rev I…I didn't mean that…" he tried to apologize but found the words cluttering in his mouth.

"No…no I guess your right…only an idiot would trust a guy like Shade right?" Rev said in a small, slow voice.

_Rev speaking at a normal rate? That is not a good sign, _Tech thought as he frantically tried to find the right words to make amends. Unfortunately he did not have time to do so before Rev moved toward the door to leave.

"I think I need to rest a little more." he said dejectedly as he quickly shuffled out of the lab.

"Rev wait…I was just…" but the sliding door to the lab closed before he could say anything else. He sighed loudly in frustration as he rubbed his temples vigorously. "Why am I so good at hurting my best friends feelings?" he asked out load to himself. "It seams like that's what I end up doing every time I talk to him," He continued to on with his lamentations, "But Why?"

"Maybe you just talk too much." was the reply from a raspy voice behind him.

"You can say that again." Tech replied back. Then he stopped and thought for a second. "Wait...who said that?" he asked as he turned to where he had heard the voice come from, but saw no one there.

"I did." the low, husky voice spoke again.

This time when Tech turned around he saw a dark, shadowy figure standing directly behind him. Seeing this caused him to yelp in surprise and stumble backward. "Careful." the figure said as Tech got back to a more stable position. Once he was standing on his own two feet again Tech could see who it was that was standing in front of him.

"Shade?" he said uncertainly. He looked closer and saw that indeed it was Shade standing in front of him. He was dressed in his normal attire with his hat and cape back on. His entire form was wavy and slightly distorted.

"Hello." Shade said simply. At seeing how agitated Tech was becoming he knew he would have to try and settle him down. "Calm down Tech. I'm not here to hurt you or anything like that." he said with a calming hand gesture.

"Then why are you here?" he asked suspiciously, his hands raised and glowing slightly with green magnetic energy.

"Actually I'm not really here at all." After seeing Tech's look of confusion and suspicion he continued. "See for your self." he said as he pointed to an area with several large monitors that he assumed was some kind of security station. And he was correct in this assumption.

Tech moved over cautiously and turned on the monitor. Once the hanger's camera came up he saw Slam sitting in the chair, and in the cell he had built…was Shade, lying on his cot. This only served to confuse Tech even more. "But…how are you…"

"Astral projection. I can leave my physical body and go pretty much anywhere I want in this 'ghostly' form, although I can't physically interact with any of my surroundings."

This information seemed to put Tech in an even worse mood than he already was. "I suppose my **containment cell** isn't very effective then." he said with a disconsolate tone and a morose look on his face. _Just another thing I've messed up lately._

Seeing how depressed Tech was becoming Shade felt he should try to help the miserable coyote in front of him. "You can't blame yourself," he tried consoling him, "after all there really is no way of permanently containing me…at least none that I know of."

"Then why did you decide to stay in there at all?" Tech asked as he wondered at this strange behavior but was still only mildly interested in the answer.

"I chose to stay out of respect for your authority, which is not something I usually do**. **I do this because I **do not** wish to be your enemy Tech." Shade said in an insisting and genuine tone.

_You could have fooled me, _Tech thought wryly but only said "So…why are you **here** if you could just escape and continue on with your 'business'?"

"I felt like talking some more." Shade replied with the slightest hint of a grin on his face.

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Rev walked down the hallway after he had hastily fled Tech's lab. He didn't really feel like resting so he decided to try and take his mind off what had happened with a walk through the tower. _Man am I tired of this happening, _he thought as he walked along the hall. _This happens way too much for my liking. Sometimes I have to wonder just how 'smart' Tech really is. He sure doesn't know how to talk to people. _Just then Rev stopped and realized something. _Actually…come to think of it I'm pretty sure that he only says things like that to me and never really messes up like that with anyone else. He's usually very tactful…but when it comes to talking to me…he just doesn't seem to get it. I wonder why that is?_

Before Rev could put any more thought on that subject he accidentally wandered into the living room area and found Lexi and Ace watching the TV. "Hey Rev," Ace greeted Rev as he saw him walk in, "what are you doing?" he asked from his spot on the couch.

"Oh uh…nothing-I-was-just-walking-around-thinking-about…stuff." he said a little nervously as he wondered if he should stay or try and leave. He tried to remove the sad and hurt look on his face but he wasn't sure it would work. He was notorious for wearing his emotions on his sleeves, at least that was what everyone else said.

"Well why don't you join us then?" Lexi asked as she patted the spot on the couch next to her.

"Okay…sure." Rev said uncertainly as he walked over and sat down. He was unsure if they noticed his mood but he didn't want to find out. "So-what-are-we-watching?" he asked trying to steer their attention toward something other than him.

"Nothing. I've been channel surfing for half an hour now." Ace replied as he casually flicked through the channels.

"There usually isn't anything good on this early in the morning." Lexi said.

Then suddenly something came on that caught all their attention. "**And now we go live to commissioner Speck's press conference where he will be discussing his apprehension of Shade." **It was Chelsea Falls on Acmetropolis Action News again.

"Well **this** should be good." Lexi said sarcastically. "I can only imagine what that bulldog is going to say."

"Aw come on Lexi. I bet it wont be that bad." Ace tried to reassure her but he had his own doubts. _She may be right. I don't really know what he'll say. I know he doesn't like us but Specks no idiot…at least I don't think he is._

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**(A/N: Now we are at the press conference)**

"Thank you all for coming out on such short notice. I would like to begin by saying that Shade is in custody and that the city is safe from him." Speck began the press conference with at least a dozen reporters snapping pictures of him standing in front of a wooden podium. He spoke in a gruff yet confident tone as he addressed them. "Now are there any questions?"

As soon as he asked this he was hit by a torrent of words from almost everyone in the room. Finally one reporter was able to get Speck's attention. "Raul Montoya, Acmetropolis News Agency western division. How did you capture Shade?" the man asked asked.

"We simply lured him into an empty parking lot and, when confronted with the large force that I had assembled, he surrendered without a fight." Speck replied with a confident smirk hidden under his bushy mustache.

Then Speck pointed to another reporter, "Burt Mown, Acmetropolis Weekly Tribune. Where is Shade being held and is this place secure?"

"His exact whereabouts are classified at this moment in order to maintain security, but yes he is in a secure place. Anymore questions?" _This isn't so bad, _Speck thought as he looked out over the small crowd and decided which one to call on next. _I don't know why I had such a bad feeling about this. _"Yes, you there." He said pointing to a woman in front.

"Kelly Locksley, United Press Association. Were the Loonatics involved in this process at all?"

At this question Speck's smirk turned into a deep scowl, _oh…that's why I didn't want to do this_. "Well they…they did uh…assist in the planning process, but as to their involvement in the actual capturing uh…process …you could say they were 'useful', that is to say they served their purpose in the uh… the plan." He bumbled through his reply as he kicked himself for not thinking of a better way to say this.

"So what was their role exactly?" the female reporter continued on with her questioning.

_Alright, I'm done with this_, Speck thought sourly as he tried to end the conference as quickly as possible. "Well thankfully I had the foresight to make sure the entire process was recorded on video, so if you want to see the scene you can watch that." Speck said to the mob of journalists.

"Where is this tape then?" asked a random reporter in the crowd.

"I have already released the tape to a member of the press so now it's their decision when to show it. That concludes this press conference. Goodbye." And with that Speck left the podium he had been standing at and walked out of the room.

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"And there we have it. Commissioner Speck's press conference is over, and as it happens the one reporter that Speck gave the tape to just so happens to be…ME, Chelsea Falls, and so here is the exclusive video recording of Shade's capture." Chelsea began to explain to the viewers of AAN.

Soon the tape began to role and showed the scene…including the entire fight between Shade and the Loonatics with impeccable detail and quality. Unfortunately, however humiliating their defeat may have seemed during the fight, it was even worse for the Loonatics to see it on tape. Ace, Lexi, and Rev (along with every other person watching that news network) saw them get their butts handed to them in a very inglorious way.

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Well that's just great," Ace said as he slumped forward on the couch. "Now we're going to be the laughing stock of the entire **planet!" **

"I don't think it's going to be that bad." Lexi tried to calm Ace down as he was about to go into a full on state of hopelessness.

Alas, Ace was beyond cheering up right now. "No Lexi…you were right. That was terrible. We're never going to live this down. Shade didn't even look like he was trying. I can't see how this can get any worse."

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(Meanwhile in another part of the city…)

A lone man sat in an armchair as he stared at the large television that was over the fireplace in his large, private study. He was watching the same news network as many others in the city and was seeing the footage of the Loonatics being beaten by Shade. As he watched he slowly started to smile. Then he began to speak to himself, "Yes…yes this could be just the type of 'distraction' I have been waiting for. Yes the time has finally come." He finished by silently chuckling to himself, letting it slowly grow until it was a full on maniacal cackle that echoed and reverberated throughout the large building he was in.

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**The shame I feel right now prevents me from saying anything other than…**

**OD3000: Sorry to hear about your…hum problems but I'm glad you still reviewed my last chapter…only you didn't really say how you felt about it. Did you like it?**

**Anyway just pleas (am I using the right word there? Pleas?) don't abandon this story because it should be less troubling for me in future chapters…hopefully….so R&R if you would.**


	9. Another New Player

**Ch9: Hi (said in a depressed tone). I guess I'll just right my stories all by myself and just assume that people don't care about it enough to review…but what ever. I don't want to sound winy and annoying. I guess it's not that big a deal. Anyway, now things should be picking back up so we go now. Oh yeah, this is going to get graphic, violence wise. So beware.**

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Eli, Jay, and Andy rode in their police car on their usually patrol route. Nothing very exiting had happened since their brief run-in with the Loonatics. A few days had passed since then and they were expecting their lives to get back to normal. The three rode around in silence, not having anything to talk about anyway. Eli drove, as he always did. He didn't trust Jay or Andy behind the wheel of his car, Jay because he was too reckless and Andy because he was too inexperienced. It had been a dull, dreary morning with dark clouds threatening to bring rain when suddenly the dispatcher came on the car's radio.

"**Be advised we have a possible shooting at 11345 North Marshland road, any units in the area please respond, over." t**he female voice said over the radio.

Eli quickly picked up the radio receiver and spoke into it, "This is unit 3884. We're right down the road from there. We'll check it out, over."

"**Roger that Eli. Backup will be on stand by, over." **The dispatcher replied.

"Ok boys, lets go see what the problem is." Eli said as he turned left onto North Marshland road.

"Oh great, we get to take a trip to the mad scientist capital of the world. That's just great." Jay complained lightly.

North Marshland road and the surrounding area was full of government owned labs and testing facilities. Officially they only worked on pedestrian projects, lots of small-scale things, but rumors were constantly going around since the labs were closed off to all but the highest of government officials and everything that went on there was very hush-hush.

They soon drove up to the indicated building and got out of the car. "Jay, you stay with the car." Eli said as he and Andy made their way toward the building.

"Yeah alright." Jay said casually as he leaned against the car.

It was a fairly average looking two-story building. Big, gray, and dull, just like all the other buildings on this block. No windows on the bottom floor, only a few on the second level. _For security I guess, _Eli thought as he and Andy reached the front door of the building. Eli gestured for Andy to stay back a little as he slowly opened the door. Once he had opened the door he found a little reception area. It was empty and, much to his surprise, the area behind the receptionist's desk had a large splash of what he recognized to be blood.

"Oh damn," Eli said as he immediately drew his gun and activated the radio on his shoulder. "Jay, we're probable going to need that back up." he said as he moved inside the building cautiously, signaling Andy to follow.

Andy had drawn his weapon as soon as he saw Eli draw his and followed him into the building. "What is it Sarge? Whats the problem?" Andy asked. When he saw the blood splattered wall and his questions were answered.

"Shhh, quiet. For all we know whoever did this could still be in the building and we need to look for them and get any civilians out of here." Eli replied in a hushed tone as he scanned the room and moved toward the reception desk. He looked behind the desk and saw the reception woman on the floor, mines her head unfortunately.

"But Sarge…shouldn't we wait for our back-up?" Andy asked apprehensively.

Just then Jay came in the door with his gun drawn as well. "There you go Andy, back-up. Now, you two go check the upstairs and I'll check down here. Be quiet and watch for civilians, got it."

"Yes sir." was their reply and the two made their way up the staircase that led to the second floor.

Once they had left Eli began his search of the bottom floor. After seeing nothing else in the reception area he moved through a set of double doors and found himself in a blank, sterile, white hallway. He moved down the hallway till he arrived at a wooden door at the other end of the hall. As he approached he saw that the door had an electronic locking mechanism that required a code to be punched into a key-pad for it to open. But as he drew closer he saw that someone had already shot the lock off. O_bvious signs of forced entry. Whoever did all this wasn't going for subtly, _he thought as he slowly pushed the door open. He entered cautiously into the next room, finding it to be a lab of some sorts. He looked around and saw what you might expect to find in any good science lab; chemicals, computers, machines both large and small, and various other lab items. He did not take too much time to take in the sights since as he stepped further into the room he heard his foot splash into a puddle of something. He looked down and saw that he had stepped into a swiftly flowing stream of blood that was pouring down a drain in the floor. He traced the blood back to it's source and was rather horrified at what he saw. He was nowhere near squeamish and he had seen a lot of bad things in his thirteen years on the force, but even he was taken aback by what he saw. The source of the blood stream was a pile of human bodies. After inspecting it more closely he counted at least seven bodies that were all missing heads and were collectively pumping out gallons of fresh, seaming blood. He also saw that they all were wearing lab coats. As he gazed at the sight in front of him he heard a noise from his left. He quickly turned his attention that way with his gun ready, expecting an attack from someone, only he didn't see anything at first. Then, on the top of his field of view he saw movement. He looked up and saw a loft like area above the lab and in this area he saw a curtain in one of the windows move. Eli slowly made his way over to the stairs that let up there. He finally reached the door and found it to be locked from the inside. He quickly ran through his options in his head and decided to use brute force to open the door. He threw his full 195lbs into the door (as best as he could while on the stairway) using his shoulder as a battering ram. The door flew inward and him behind it. He quickly regained his balance after loosing it slightly and surveyed the room. There were more computers and a lot of file cabinets. It was apparently some type of record keeping area. "APD, if anyone is in here than stand up with your hands in the air." He called out as he turned the lights on in the small room.

Suddenly a person stood up from behind a row of the file cabinets. "Hey, hey man don't shoot!" the young man called as he saw Eli with his gun on him.

"Who are you?" Eli asked not lowering his weapon.

"Iiii'm a rrrresearch asssistant in the lllalalab." he manged to stammer out. He did look the part…somewhat. He was dressed in a lab coat like the others down stairs but he looked much too young to be a scientist working for the government.

_He's gota still be in college, _Eli thought. _That doesn't mean he's not still a suspect._"Ok, so you wanna tell me what's happened here?" he said as he lowered his gun and waited for a reply.

"Well it was only a few minutes ago. I was up here when it happened…"

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(Some twenty minutes earlier)

A man pulled up in front of the nondescript building and left his luxurious car parked next to the curb. He got out and looked at his watch (a very expensive watch). He was finely dressed in a black suit and a purple shirt underneath with no tie. Every part of his apparel was elegant and VERY costly. He was rather short and thin. He possessed a very regal appearance, although there was still something a little…unsettling about the young, black haired man.

He walked up the short stairway and entered into the building through the doors. The receptionist greeted him with a smile as he walked in, which he returned. Then without a word he drew from under his suit jacket a pistol and fired it, killing the woman instantly and splattering her head against the wall behind her. After that he casually walked through the doors and down the hall. Once he reached the door and saw the locking mechanism he smiled and fired into the door, adequately destroying the lock and allowing him to enter. Once he walked in he saw eight people in white lab coats working busily, seemingly unaware of his arrival. To make his presence known he fired another shot into the ceiling to get their full attention. This tactic proved to be very effective as he instantly had the eyes of everyone in the room on him. "Good afternoon gentlemen and ladies," He greeted the small group with an almost sweet sincerity. His voice was normal enough except that he spoke with a distinct German accent. "now would you all be so kind as to line up against that wall over there." he said gesturing to a wall on the right side of the room with his gun. Everyone quickly moved over that way. At seeing the scientists follow his order so promptly he let a contented grin spread across his face. "Thank you all for being so cooperative.0 'You can get much farther with a kind word and a gun than you can with a kind word alone', Al Capone." He said this as if it were a joke to the crowd, but quickly went back to business. "Anyway lets keep this short shall we? Which one of you is Dr. Howard Hall?" he asked as he paced before the group of terrified doctors.

Quickly, one of the male doctors stepped forward. He was a large, portly man with a bushy gray beard and a bald head. "Hello doctor. Now if you'll just come with me…" He said gesturing to the door.

"What do you want with me?" Howard asked in a surprisingly firm and confident tone.

This attitude seemed to displease the other man as the smile he had been wearing vanished and instead his face became much darker. "I want you to not ask any questions and to come with me, doctor" he said testily.

"What about us?" one of the female doctors asked as the two men moved toward the door.

At once again the strange mans mood changed back to his courteous manner. "Oh yes I almost forgot." He said smiling as he turned back around and delivered a perfect headshot to each of the seven men and women in under ten seconds. "There we go. Now shall we doctor?"

"My God." was Howard's breathless reply. He just witnessed the murder of seven of his closest friends and was on the verge of being sick. But after having his arm seized by the murderer and being tugged in the direction of the door he was forced to leave.

They casually walked out of the building together and the doctor was ordered into the passenger seat of the man's car. They both got in and proceeded to buckle their seatbelts. The man reached for a bottle of water that was resting in a cup holder and held it out to the doctor. "Water?" he asked and when he did not see the doctor move he again raised his gun and added "Please…I insist." The doctor, seeing no alternative, took the bottle, unscrewed it, and took a small drink from it. As soon as he did he felt his head spin and his vision blur, then he was completely unconscious. His head lulled forward and the man pulled away from the building with his passenger out cold.

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The back-up that Jay had called for arrived only a few minuets after it was called for and in no-time the lab was crawling with police officers, medical personal, and forensic scientists. Soon enough the commissioner himself arrived on the scene at special request from a representative of the government. Eli was helping to direct some of the officers on the scene when Speck and the government official came over to him.

"Sergeant," Speck called out as he approached him.

Eli gave the last of his orders to a group of junior officers and hustled over to talk to his boss. "Yes sir." he said as he saluted swiftly and stiffly.

"Sergeant, this is Colonel Flagg." Speck said as he gestured to the man standing next to him, "Due to the sensitivity of this matter he will be acting as our liaison to the military and the mayor."

"Why are the mayor and the military involved in this investigation sir?" Eli asked.

Now Flagg answered, "First of all, neither the government or the military are **involved **in this investigation," he said as he moved closer to Eli in an obvious attempt to intimidate him. It was only moderately successful. He had brown hair and brown eyes, though his hair was hidden under the military cap he was currently wearing. He was well built with a thick neck and broad shoulders and of an average height. His most striking features were his eyes. They were hard and steely and were always squinting strangely. "And second of all, some of the people who worked in that lab were **very** important to some very **important **people. Got it?" he continued.

"Right, so since you were the first man on the scene I want a full briefing of the situation as you see it." Speck ordered.

"Yes sir. I arrived on the scene roughly fifteen minuets ago after I received a report of a possible shooting at this address. I arrived with my two partners…"

"I thought police officers were only allowed one partner." Flagg interrupted Eli as he looked at him with an ever present look of suspicion.

"Sergeant Mockery is involved in a special training program we have going on." Speck took the liberty of explaining this to Flagg and allowed Eli to continue.

"Yes well…once I had arrived and had entered the building I found that the receptionist had been shot and killed less than a half hour before my arrival. I then ordered my partners to search the upper section of the building and and I preceded to check the lower section. I passed through a set of double doors and into a hallway that led to a door. I saw that the door had had it's locking mechanism shot off, thus confirming that whoever showed up here was not supposed to be here. Once I entered through the door I saw the dead bodies of seven people who have been confirmed to be the scientists…"

"Hold on. There are suppose to be ten scientists working here." Flagg interrupted once again.

"Yes sir, but one of the researchers is on vacation and one of the doctors was taken by the man that did this. This was told to us by the only other survivor of the incident. A grad student on lone from a local college that was working as a lab assistant. He was able to escape unharmed because he was in another part of the lab during the incident."

"How very convenient. I think I'll have a word with him about what happened." Flagg said, suspicion thick in his voice.

Eli however was fairly certain that the young man he had seen was not a threat to anyone. "Everything the kid said was backed up by the security camera footage. I don't think he had anything to do with this. When I saw him he was seemed petrified."

"That's just he wants you think." Flagg said. "For all we know he could be behind this whole thing."

Even Speck had to look at Flagg with some concern but didn't push this possible issue. "Anyway, who was the doctor that was taken by this man?"

"A Dr. Howard Hall."

This new seemed to give Flagg an even more concerned (or rather annoyed) look as he said, "This could prove to be even more serious than I first imagined. Knowone should know that Hall is working in this lab."

"Why not?" Eli asked, thus saving Speck from having to do it.

"Lets just say that Hall hall been a very important part of the government and has some very delicate information stored in that egghead of his."

"So what does that mean exactly?" Speck now asked as he was having trouble seeing Flagg's point.

"The point is that you need to find out who took him and get him back quickly. Otherwise it could end up very badly for not only the people of this city but indeed the entire planet."

"Is it really that serious?" Eli asked as he could not imagine how dangerous one man's information could be.

Flagg turned his hard, squinted gaze to Eli and leaned in closely as he said, "With the information that doctor has…we could all be dead within the week."

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**Kinda short and quick. R&R...you know...if your not too busy with other stuff or something. It would be real nice of you is all I'm saying, but don't feel obligated to.**


	10. Call Me Joe

**Ch10: Hello. I can't believe that I'm on ch10 and it's not anywhere near done. (Nobody needs to read my comments to the reviewers. You probably wont be interested so just pretend they're not there)**

**Revriley: Nice to hear from you again. Good luck with any of your stories.**

**Crazyinsye: I REALLY want to thank you for all that stuff you said. I needed to hear some of that…well I didn't NEED to hear it…I mean I'm not that desperate for acceptance or anything…well you know what I'm trying to say, right? Just thanks ok. And was your review just a review or was it more of a response to the comments of others? Speaking of…**

**OD3000: Nice to hear from you too…I guess. Just kidding. I have to say that even though I don't completely agree with everything you said I can still see what you are saying. And yeah I guess that the last chapters may have been a little dry, but there's not a whole lot I can do about that now. In order to change that I would have to completely redo my fic and I'm not going to do that. Not yet anyway. All I can do is hope to do better in the future. Nonetheless I still value your comments and thoughts, so don't feel like I want you to stop, cause I don't. And if you don't like a lot of dialogue then you are going to be unhappy with this chapter I'm afraid.**

**Now the problem is that I have two conflicting opinions about my story and I need a third one to help me see what most people are feeling. So if you would not mind…I would be very grateful to you if you would be that third opinion. Anyway…I guess we should get to the story.**

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Dr. Hall soon awoke to find himself in a lab setting. Only this laboratory was different from the one he had just been removed from. His old lab was state of the art and very modern looking, whereas this new one had more of an 'evil lair' type of feel. It looked like someone had turned an old castle's dungeon into a laboratory. He had little time to observe his surroundings as he saw the man who had brought him there sitting across from him. He was sitting in a large chair with a glass filled with some golden liquid and an expensive looking crystal decanter filled with the same drink on a table next to him. He had changed out of his suit (no doubt because it had been splattered with blood) and into a plush, vermilion robe and charcoal slacks. He was also wearing a self-contented smile that was often adorning his face. All in all he looked like the picture of wealth and prosperity. He was young, handsome, and, apparently, exceedingly wealthy. Despite his looks there was still something…wrong about the man. It was almost an ominous emanation that surrounded him. His sharp features betrayed his calmness and kindness. Suddenly he spoke, "Hello doctor…brandy?" he asked as he held out another glass that had been resting on the small table beside his armchair. Hall slowly shook his head, earning a chuckle from his captor. "Yes, I suppose you would be reluctant to accept another drink from me. You understand I had to do that in order to keep our current location a secret."

"Yes and while we're on that subject…" the doctor started as he leaned forward in his chair, showing how tense he was at that moment.

This surprised the kidnapper somewhat. He had not expected the doctor to be so forward and direct. "You want to know why you're here." he finished the doctors thought for him. "Very well, but it might be more fitting to start by introducing myself first. Or maybe I should begin by telling you the name of my father. You two were quite close as I understand." he said in a deliberately enigmatic fashion.

"Alright…**who is your father then?" **Hall asked impatiently, but the more he looked at this man he felt like he did, in fact, know him from somewhere.

"My father was Arthur Mengele…" he paused to let that sink in then continued, "…and my name is Josef Mengele II."

This information was shocking to Hall. Arthur Mengele had been a colleague and a very close friend of his for decades until his death eight years ago. The two men had been great friends due to the fact that they were both talented doctors and scientists. Due to this fact, they had shared a long and fruitful partnership together. "But…Arthur said that both you and your mother died during the birthing process." he said astounded. That was the story that Arthur told him 25 years ago and he had accepted it at face value, even though Arthur was reluctant to give details about the experience. He had trusted his friend enough not to push the issue, thinking that he may have been more hurt by the whole ordeal than he had let on.

Josef's smile shrank then, but remained on his face as he answered the questions he knew the doctor had. "Unfortunately only half of that story was true. My mother did die due to complications, but I did not. Now you must be wondering why my father decided to keep my birth as secret as possible." As he prepared to go on he seemed to become uncomfortable with the words that were coming out of his mouth. "My father…in his 'infinite wisdom' blamed **me **for the death of his beloved wife...which is a completely reasonable way to react a situation like this…don't you agree?" he asked sarcastically in an attempted to hide the pain he was obviously feeling. "So since the day of my birth I was bounced from one branch of the Mengele family tree to another, which was never very thick mind you, until I was ten. At that point I was put into a series of boarding schools and military academies until my fathers death. Upon said occurrence he had the heart to leave me, his 'estranged nephew', his vast fortune and assets so that I may never have to work for the rest of my life. So cruel yet so generous, it perplexes me…it really does." He finished by resting his head on his hand and looking up at the ceiling with unfocused eyes. Obviously recounting his life story was not very pleasant for him. He seemed to realise that he had gotten off track. "I'm sorry…what were we talking about again? Oh yes, why you are here." he said, finally getting his thoughts in order. "Like I said, it has to do with you and my fathers partnership." Josef regained his old facial expression as he continued. "There is a certain project that you two worked on that I am interested in."

This made Hall very suspicious. Many of the projects and experiments that he and Arthur had worked on together were classified and not many people were suppose to know about them. "What project are you interested in?" he asked.

"Project _Todesengel_." Josef said with a, now sly and somewhat evil, smile. He reveled in the sight of the doctors look of realisation and then horror. "I see you still remember that one."

"Yes, and why the the hell are you interested in that project!" the doctor answered as he had some very disturbing ideas of what this man was after.

"I want you to duplicate the experiment," he rose from his chair and continued talking, "you'll find every thing you need here in this lab and so I expect to have results soon." He walked toward a large stairwell as he spoke and began moving up them.

"Your mad! I'll never help you recreate that mistake. I'd rather die." Hall shouted as he too stood and watched Josef slowly make his way up the stairs.

"You may be willing to die…but what about your wife?" he asked rather casually as he turned to look at the doctor. "I anticipated your reaction and took sufficient measures to make sure you cooperate."

"But…how?" Hall asked breathlessly. He had seen his wife just that morning before he had gone to work.

Again the smile was on his face, only now it was making Howard sick. "Your wife was a very gracious host. I simply walked up to your house and said I wanted to talkto her about switching insurance or something like that. She insisted I come in and have a cup of tea and something to eat. She is a sweet woman. Your lucky to have her…and if you play along you will continue to have her. Is that clear? Of coarse it is."

He began ascending the stairs again as Hall looked up at him helpless. He fought for some words to say but all that came was, "Josef…please." It was a weak plea and it fell on deaf ears.

All Josef did was stop for a moment look down at the doctor from atop the stairs and said, "Call me Joe." then as he turned around he mumbled under his breath angrily, "My father called me Josef." And as he said this he closed the large, metal door at the top of the stairs and locked it from the outside. This action producing a lout and hard 'clang' that echoed around the room. That was the last sound that was heard as Howard sunk back into the chair he had left and wondered at his prospects for the future. And how grim they were.

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**I probably should put more into this chapter, because its so painfully short, and I would…only I can't think of anything that would fit after that. So instead of awkwardly tacking something on at the end to make it longer I'll just leave it here and start again in the next chapter. To tell you the truth I'm getting a little stuck after this, but still R&R please.**


	11. The Plot Thickens

**Ch11: Hello.**

**Evilhumour Author: Well thanks for the positive review.**

**CrazyInSye: We already talked so nothing needs to be said. Well…why not, thanks again.**

**I think now is a good time to clarify something. The events in chapters nine through eleven (or this chapter) all take place three days after chapter eight.**

**OK so lets go…**

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Speck sat in his office working on some paperwork when he saw his door open. One of his junior officers had walked in. "Yes?" he asked gruffly as he stared at his subordinate.

"A Major. Miller here to see you sir." The officer said stiffly. The man quickly walked in wearing standard green fatigues and brightly shined boots. The gold oak leaf that showed his rank was also shining brightly on his patrol cap. **(A/N: I use the American military uniform for inspiration here)**

The strange thing was that Speck instantly recognized the military man that had just walked in as COL. Flagg.

"That will be all son." Flagg said to the man who saluted quickly and left. Once they were alone he approached Speck's desk.

Speck didn't like that Flagg was ordering around his men, but decided to ignore it and, instead, addressed the other, more important issue. "Hello colonel…or major?" he said tentatively as he looked the man over again to make sure he was not mistaken.

"Don't worry Speck, I'm still the man you remember." Flagg said as he saw the quizzical look on Speck's face. "I hid my true identity to make sure that no one will know that I'm involved with you or your work." he continued.

"Why?" was all Speck could think of saying as Flagg's explanation only served to answer one question and raise another.

Flagg turned his ever hard and suspicious gaze to Speck as he replied, "Its generally frowned upon for military or government people to interact with the police. It gives people the wrong message. We believe it makes people think we're trying to control everything."

"Well that's ridiculous. The government isn't trying to control everything with the military…right?" Speck said with a small chuckle. But when Flagg only stared back and shared none of the humor Speck's chuckle died off.

"No, of course not. Anyway, when the public sees the military working with the police it only serves to be counter productive to whatever we're trying to accomplish in the end." At seeing Speck was still somewhat lost he finally just said "What they don't know won't hurt them…right?"

Speck nodded slowly even though he still had some concerns about what he had just heard. Instead of any of those questions he just asked "So why are you here now?"

"Actually I'm just here for a quick visit." Flagg replied, as he stood in front of the desk Speck was sitting behind. "I have some news I need to tell you and I'm not going to beat around the bush. This new situation with Dr. Hall is very serious and needs to be dealt with as quickly and quietly as possible. I've discussed it with my superiors and they agree that you are the best person to be put in charge of solving this problem. You will be given anything and everything you need to help solve this case and you are to make it your first and foremost concern."

"I'm…in charge of the investigation? What exactly does that mean?" Speck asked as he stared at Flagg curiously.

Flagg's features did not change much as he answered. "It means that you now have jurisdiction over every other law enforcement agency on this planet. Of coarse you'll still be reporting back to me but other than that you now have complete control over this." At seeing how Speck's eyes almost lit up at hearing this he smirked a little. "Well that's all I wanted to tell you so I'll just be going." As he moved toward the door Speck was utterly speechless.

He was already the police commissioner but that was only for a small section of the whole global police network. Now he was going to be in charge of every police officer on the entire **planet! **To the best of his knowledge no such position existed. There was the Head Officer, but that job was just administrative. Working with the government, arranging the budget, and setting policies for the rest of the system to follow. "So what is my new title?" he finally asked before Flagg left.

Flagg turned around and said tiredly, "How about we say you're the 'Chief of All Police Forces' and just leave it there?" At seeing this seemed to pleas Speck, Flagg again attempted to leave, but then he remembered the other reason for this visit. "Oh, I almost forgot. I want you to bring the Loonatics into the investigation too." And with that he shut the door and walked out of the station.

Once the last thing Flagg said penetrated the euphoria-racked mind of Speck he scowled deeply and even slammed his fist onto his desk. _Damn it! DAMN IT! _He fought hard to keep his anger from escaping as he mentally exploded in a string of profane language. After about five minuets of silent cursing he reached for his phone and punched in the number he wanted.

It rang for a few moments then a voice came on...an all to familiar voice. **"Hello, Loonatic residence. How can we be of assistance?" **Speck heard Ace's voice on the phone. _God help me_, he thought miserably.

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(Meanwhile, in the Loonatic tower…)

"But you can't say that the person you just killed or decinerated was 'bad' and expect that to justify it completely." Tech pressed this point for what seemed like the millionth time in the past hour.

"Why not? I have the same definition of 'bad' as a lot of other people. Why can't I be trusted to do the right thing and not have anyone interfering in my work?" Shade countered in as passionate a voice as he dared to muster (which was still rather lackluster). He and Tech had been meeting secretly in the lab to have these 'friendly' debates about Shade's actions as well as several other subjects. Though the two always seemed to have opposing opinions regardless of what they were talking about, which Shade found strange. Shade was always trying to get Tech to see things from his point of view, but he had proved resilient and, in some cases, completely unwilling to budge in his own beliefs about Shade or anything else. He had begun to wonder how a scientific minded person like Tech could be so closed off to his way of thinking. _At this point I'm starting to think this is more than just a conflict of morals or ideas, _Shade thought. _I think he just has something against me personally…why that might be I don't know._

"We can't do that because that's not how the world works!" Tech stated, on the verge of total exasperation. For some reason he had been finding it hard to keep his emotions in check while talking to Shade for the past few days.

"Of coarse that's how the world works. Most of the population of this planet puts the responsibility of dealing with problems with someone else so they don't have to worry about it, be it a government official, law enforcement officer, or military personnel. All their jobs are to protect the general public from danger and solve the problems of their lives for them." Shade replied. He too was getting irritated and that was beginning to show in his responses.

"Yes, but you also have to consider…" Tech began but he was cut off as his communicator turned on and Ace's voice began speaking through it.

"**Hey Tech, we're having a meeting in the COM room. Could you get up here?" **

"Alright Ace. I'll be there in a second." Tech said into his end of the communicator, trying his best to calm down as he ended the short conversation. After turning it off he looked to Shade and said, "Well I suppose we'll have to continue this some other time."

"I'll be looking forward to it." Shade responded with complete sincerity as his 'ghostly' form began to dissipate, the sign that he was returning to his physical body that was still laying the cell in the tower's hanger.

_He'll be looking forward to it? _Tech thought once he was alone in his lab. _Why does he enjoy talking to me?_ he asked himself this as he moved towards the door and into the hall. _All I do is disagree with his and he **still **enjoys my company. Why?_ He was in deep thought over that question as he entered the hall, which is why he did not notice that Rev had just rounded the corner and was now heading toward him. The fact that Tech did not notice this combined with the fact that Rev was traveling at a very fast speed meant that that the two collided and were sent tumbling down the hall (painfully), eventually skidding to a halt a few feet away. Tech laid on the floor for a few seconds, blinking slowly in order to determine what had just happened. Once he heard someone groaning near him he was able to see what had transpired. He sat up and rubbed his head softly. He quickly found that there were just a few bumps and bruises, and he knew those would heal by themselves soon enough. Which meant it was time to see whom he had ran into, _or who ran into me, _he quickly thought. Once he looked over and saw it was Rev, however, his attitude changed immediately. "Oh I'm sorry Rev. Here…" he said as he got up and held out his hand to help him to his feet.

After realizing what had just happened Rev first looked at the hand in front of him, then at Tech. But instead of taking the help that was being offered him, Rev's face shifted to a rare look of anger as stood up on his own. "Yeah-whatever-no-thanks." he said acerbically and, without another word dashed off down the hall again.

This left Tech completely flabbergasted. _Uh…what?_ he thought as he scratched his head. _What was that?_ _What did I do to…deserve…_as he thought this he knew the answer already. He never apologized for what had happened in his lab. _In fact…I haven't said __**anything**__ to him for the past three days! _He suddenly had the urge to bang his head into the wall (and seriously considered doing it) until he really started to panic. He already knew exactly what had happened: he had been too preoccupied with Shade to remember that he had hurt Rev's feelings, and since he had never apologized to him, the relatively small wound he had dealt had festered and worsened as time went by. _How on Earth am I going to fix this?_

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Several minuets latter the whole team was in the COM room and was talking amongst themselves. Tech had sat next to Rev and was attempting to talk to him but was having difficulty. This was mostly because Rev refused to even look at him, but he still tried. "Rev I'm sorry I didn't apologize sooner and I apologize for what I said," after getting no reply he said, "could you at least say something?" but Rev refused to budge.

Tech was going to try again but he was interrupted as Ace addressed his assembled team. "OK team. I just got off the phone with our 'favorite' police commissioner and he says he has something important to tell us." he said sarcastically.

"So what?" Duck said crossly. He was already tired of Speck and he was seriously fed up with being ordered around by him. "Just call him and say we're busy. He's not the boss of us."

"Duck, he controls every cop within, like, a 100 mile radius of this area." Lexi was quick to point out.

Duck was unimpressed. "Big deal. I'm easily worth 100, no 1000 cops." he said unabashedly.

"Uh…yeah…in any case Speck wouldn't be calling us unless it was important. So that means we're going." Ace said sternly as he glared a Duck. He was not in the mood for Duck's grandstanding. Once he saw Duck sigh and roll his eyes, but otherwise stay silent, he continued. "But we do need someone to stay behind with our guest."

As soon as Ace had said this Rev's hand shot up faster than the eye could see. "I'll-do-it-Ace-I'd-much-rather-stay-here-in-the-tower-and-besides-I think-it's-my-turn-anyway-so-I'll-do-it."

"OK Rev you can stay and the rest of us will go see what Speck has to say." Ace said as he got up and began walking to the door the others all following him.

Though Tech suddenly thought of something. _This would be the perfect time to be alone with Rev and try to apologize._ "Ace…do you think I could stay behind with Rev? He may need my help watching Shade." He said this expecting his request to be granted without any problems.

Unfortunately he had not counted on a certain black-feathered foul standing in his way. "Oh no you don't buster. You just want to stay behind so you don't have to deal with Speck either. Well I don't think so." He grabbed onto Tech's arm and started dragging him out of the room. "If someone of **my** importance has to go talk to that jerk than so do you."

Tech struggled to get Duck to let go of his arm as he spoke, "Duck…ughn…would you…naghh…let…**go**!" He worked to pry Duck's fingers from off his arm but found his grip surprisingly firm.

He looked to Ace for support but was disappointed again. "I'm gona agree with Duck on this one actually. I think Rev can handle things here on his own."

"Yeah…I suppose your right chief." Tech said, disappointment thick in his voice. Duck let go of his arm and the six made their way to the hanger.

Shade saw them all walk in and got up from his cot. He stretched a little to work out the kinks that had formed in his muscles (this was a common side affect of the astral projection) and as they neared his cell he greeted them casually, "Hey. Going somewhere?"

Duck was the first to respond as he said, "We have to go see Speck about something."

Duck made no attempt to hide how angry he was about it and this amused Shade. "Boy, that's too bad. Does that mean I get the tower to myself?" he asked in a half-hearted, (or maybe an even smaller fraction would be more appropriate) joking manner.

"Actually Rev's gona be here to watch you while we're out." Ace said as he moved over to the rack they stored their jet packs on.

"It's raining again. We'd better take the Zoomatrixes." Lexi said as she opened the large hanger door and saw the heavy down pour.

"Again? If it keeps up like this we're going to need a **submarine **just to leave the tower." Duck griped as he got on his Zoomatrix. **(A/N: Is that the proper, singular form?)**

Despite Duck's sour attitude Ace still felt the need to irk him even more. "Why are you complaining Duck? I thought Duck's were supposed to **live** in water?"

"Oh ha ha ha it is to laugh." Duck grumbled to himself as he and the other four Loonatics started up their vehicles and headed out.

As Shade watched them leave he was fully resigned to laying back and relaxing. However he couldn't help but notice that Rev was acting a bit…strangely. He didn't seem like his normal, energetic, talkative self. Instead he had moved over to the chair near the cell and sat down without saying a single word to him. Even after a few minuets he had done nothing but stare at the ground with a sour look on his face. Shade wasn't surprised that he noticed Rev was upset about something, after all he was an observant person. What did surprise him was the nagging feeling in the back of his mind to find out what was wrong. After several minuets of silence, Shade finally gave into the urge to inquire what exactly had troubled him so much. "Say Rev…" he started rather awkwardly, "is there something bothering you? You don't quite seem like yourself today." He tried to only look mildly interested as he asked this to protect his image.

Rev had been brooding in his hurt feelings and indignation so deeply he had almost forgotten that he wasn't alone. It even took a few seconds for him to realize someone had spoken to him. Once he did he simply said, "Yeah-sure-I'm-fine-peachy-never-better." His features said otherwise as he was still giving off a strong sense of righteous anger.

"You shouldn't lie to people Rev. It's very unseemly." Shade replied, as he couldn't hide the displeasure he felt from Rev being false with him.

Rev was a little dismayed by the fact that his fib had been so easily detected. But he wasn't too surprised. Anyone who had known him for more than an hour could see that something was wrong. He only lied as a reflex. All his life he hadn't liked people feeling sorry for him, but at the same time he was still a very emotional person. So when he was angry or sad or upset he had a lot of difficulty hiding it. He suddenly admired how Shade seemed to always be in control of his emotions at all times. Only allowing people small glimpses at how he was really feeling at any one time. He quickly decided that continuing to lie would not get him anywhere, _and I suppose it isn't healthy to keep your emotions bottled up inside, _he thought as he sighed and prepared to tell Shade what was bothering him. "Well-see-the-problem-is-a-few-days-ago-Tech-my-friend-my-best-friend-in-the-whole-world-said-something-that-hurt-my-feelings-and-he-never-even-said-sorry-and-that-was-three-days-ago-so-at-first-I-was-just-sad-and-hurt-but-since-he-never-apologized-I-feel-angry-and-still-pretty-hurt-and-even-though-he-tried-to-apologize-today-I-didn't-even-want-to-talk-to-him-It's-just-so-weird-because-I-like-Tech-and-I-like-to-think-he-likes-me-too-and-we're-friends-but-sometimes-he-just…He-just-doesn't-get-it." Rev finely finished what seemed like the longest sentence he had been allowed to use in years as even he was feeling a little out of breath afterward.

Shade was initially relived to find that the nagging feeling was gone now, but in it's place was an even stronger force of remorse for the poor bird before him. To see him in such an unhappy state sent pangs of sorrow and pity throughout his body. That, and the sudden urge to comfort him, made his stomach churn with displeasure. Regardless of that he could not help himself. "So…does this happen a lot?"

"Yeah it does." Rev said slowly as he thought of all the times this sort of thing had happened since he had known Tech. There were far too many events for his liking.

Shade looked thoughtful for a moment then asked, "Do you think he is trying to upset you?" He figured the answer would be 'no', but it was important to see the way Rev looked at the situation.

The answer was also obvious to Rev. "No." was all he said after little thought, and he knew that was true.

"So even knowing that it happens a lot and that he doesn't try to hurt your feelings you still get upset every time?" Shade said as he wondered about a possible solution. He saw Rev nod slowly. "Are you the only one he has this problem with?" Again he received a simple nod. _I think I can help, but do I really want to…yeah._ "Rev…I had a similar problem with…a friend of mine when we were kids. He acted much the same way as Tech only he would end up insulting everybody all the time, including me. Now we were good friends and I liked being around him, but the things he said sometimes really got me angry. At first I would yell and flip out on him, and he would apologize and we would move on. The problem was that it kept happening again and again and again." He paused to see what Rev was doing since he himself had been staring at the floor. He found that Rev was staring at him, listening intently to his story. Shade shifted slightly as he suddenly found his chair uncomfortable, but continued. "After one of these incidents instead of yelling at him I just stormed off and I decided to do some thinking. I thought long and hard about whether or not I wanted to continue the relationship I had with him. Eventually I decided that I still wanted to be his friend because he was still a good person despite that one flaw. So I went and found him and he said he was sorry and I said I forgave him and we moved on. The next day he said something that upset me, but I didn't blow up at him. I told him I didn't like what he had said but I did it in a calm manner." _A rare, intimate look into my childhood…hope you appreciate how special that makes you Rev, _Shade thought as he drifted off a little while going down 'memory lane'. He snapped back to attention when he saw Rev was still looking at him expectantly. _Perhaps I didn't drive my point in enough._ "The point of the story, Rev, is that I saw that constantly trying to change someone wont always work. When it comes to people you care about, you just have to let some things slide. Get it?"

This, at last, seamed to get a rise out of Rev and his depression and anger seamed to lift away. "Yeah I get it. Only-I-still-can't-think-of-any-reason-for-why-Tech-does-this-to-me-and-nobody-else."

As Rev said this a though crossed Shade's mind, _Maybe…maybe its because he…no...that's crazy…and yet…_ "Rev, how does Tech act when you're around?" Shade asked, working off a hunch.

"He-acts-pretty-normally-when-I'm-around-when-he's-working-and-I-come-by-he-says-that-I distract-him-but-he-still-likes-having-me-around-anyway." Rev said, a little confused.

_Distracted-check,_ Shade thought as he ran down the 'symptoms' of what he thought might be affecting Tech.

"When-he's-not-working-he's-a-little-more-relaxed-but-I-get-this-weird-feeling-sometimes-that-he's-not-comfortable-when-I'm-around." Rev continued to list things he had noticed about Tech over the time they had known each other.

_Uncomfortable-check_

"He-even-seems-nervous-for-no-reason."

_Nervous-check. _"Does he seem clumsy around you?" Shade asked as everything seemed to be matching up perfectly.

"Well-a-little-I-guess-but-to-be-honest-he-isn't-the-most-coordinated-person-in-the-world-to-begin-with-but-don't-tell-him-I-said-that." Rev looked back on the time he had asked Tech to help him with his 'Robo-amigo' and how he had thought it strange the way Tech was constantly falling out of the house. This had never been a problem with anyone else (regardless of the fact that his house had no walls on the outside).

_Clumsy-check, it's starting to look definitive. There's only one more thing that comes to mind._ "Does he…stare at you when you're around?"

That made Rev think for a moment. "Yeah-actually-he-kinda-does-now-that-you-mention-it-he-looks-at-me-a-lot-and-he-tries-not-to-let-me-know-but-I-still-notice."

_Staring-check, all signs check out. But that's just…crazy! _

"So-do-you-have-any-idea-why-this-keeps-happening?" Rev asked expectantly.

**(A/N: Spoiler alert below, kinda)**

_Yes,_ "Nope. No clue." he lied. _All signs point to one thing. That's exactly how I acted around __Elisa,_he thought, smirking inwardly._He loves you Rev. You might not know it…he might not know it...and that's probably something you should figure out on your own, _Shade thought as he looked out at a slightly disappointed Rev. As he thought about it he had to admit, _they would make a cute couple._

**(A/N: that wasn't too bad…I hope…)**

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The other five Loonatics soon arrived at the police station and were directed into Speck's office. As he walked in Ace noticed that Speck seamed restless and agitated. Despite that he still greeted him with a large amount of mock-sincerity. "Hey there comish'ner." Ace started but was quickly shut up by the look of boiling anger that he was receiving from Speck.

"Actually It's Chief Of All Police Forces now. I was just promoted." Saying this gave him some satisfaction.

Unfortunately that feeling was destroyed when Duck began to speak. "So you called us all the way down here to tell us you've been **promoted! **Well good for you and its been a real fun time but we have other, more important, things to do." Duck said with an extremely low level of tact that only he could achieve as he turned around and was about to leave.

He stopped when he heard Speck shout, "STOP! YOU…YOU…" then he calmed himself before he could think of something to say. " There is one more thing. **I** am currently in charge of a very sensitive and important case…and I have been instructed to…**include you **in the case." He said this as if it caused him physical pain. Recovering quickly he picked up a folder and literally threw it at Ace, who caught it. "That's the case file as it stands right now. If there are any developments I'll make sure someone calls you."

As he stared silently at them all with eyes that resembled two slow-burning coals Ace finally summed up the courage to ask, "Is that it?"

"Yes…" Speck hissed, "now get out of my office!"

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**Perhaps my most daring and ambitious chapter ever. It makes me a little scared but I'll just wait for your reviews. (I dare you to call this chapter "cold"). I am hoping that I have not completely ruined my story with this. So tell me what you think OK.**

**Maybe I should also take this time to say that I whole-heartedly embrace the Tech/Rev relationship and that is going to be a big part in most of my stories (note I used a / and not an x. That is intentional). So if you don't like that sort of thing things my get…hard for you in future stories, but not really this one. **


	12. Case Solved?

**Ch12: Hi. I have an excuse for this taking so long (besides me being lazy). My computer has recently been having problems and I had to completely wipe it clean. So I lost everything I was working on and then I had to reinstall all my operating software and that junk. Now I have finally got Microsoft Word installed so I can continue on. I expect the rest of this story to go smoothly and quickly enough until the end. Anyway…**

**Master Crane: Awesome- **_**Adjective- **_**very**** impressive/ ****beautiful, breathtaking, grand, impressive, magnificent, striking, wonderful, wondrous **

**Maybe that will help in the future.**

**CrazyInSye: I'm SO glad you liked it. Like I said, I was nervous but your review reassures me some.**

**Revriley: I am deeply sorry to lose you patronage, but I suppose it can't be helped. I'll try and 'warn' people about my relationship/pairings in the future. I'm not sure why it's that big of a deal, but whatever. **

**Also, to anyone who did not understand the significance of there being a character named ****Josef Mengele II, allow me to explain (because it's kind of important).**

**Josef Mengele was, among other things, a German SS officer and a physician in the Auschwitz concentration camp during WWII. As if that wasn't bad enough, while he was there he performed thousands of grisly ****experiments on the inmates of the camp causing a lot of them to die. Because of that and because he also decided which of the new arrivals to the camp would be sent to their deaths immediately and who would be used for forced labor, he earned the sobriquet 'The Angle of Death'. You can see why that's important. **

**So there. A little history leson for you, but lets get to the story.**

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Howard was going mad. There was no other way to describe what was happening to him. He could feel it. So many things were piling on top of him. The fear for his life and the safety and welfare of his wife. The stress of the work he was doing. The worry of what the end result of this whole project would be. He still did not know what Joe was planning to do with the _Todesengel _once it was finished, but it couldn't be anything good. He still felt sick whenever he thought of that name. _It was my gratest folly…and now I'm being forced to make it again. God have mercy on me. _He recalled when he had asked Joe for more information about what was happening…

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(Flashback)

"How are things coming down here?" Joe asked in his eerily cheerful tone as he walked down the large, metal staircase into the dungeon/lab area. He saw Hall hunched over a computer and was typing on the keyboard furiously. As he came closer he noticed the breakfast that he had made for the doctor sitting on the same table, completely untouched. "Is there something wrong with my cooking?" he asked in a darker tone. Howard continued to ignore him though. This seemed to irritate Joe. "WELL." he suddenly snapped and forcibly turned the chair Howard was sitting in so they were looking directly at each other. Hall was surprised by the fierce look of anger in his eyes. He could only shake his head. "Just not hungry?" Joe asked in a more neutral tone. Now Hall nodded. "Very well then. I'll just take this back up stairs since your so busy." He said this in his usual, cheerful voice again.

"You…made that yourself? Don't you have servants to do those things?" Howard asked. It seemed only logical that this rich tycoon would have a legion of maids and butlers to attend to his every need…at least that was what Howard expected of someone as wealthy as Joe.

"No actually, I do all the maintenance on my home myself." Joe responded casually. "I could obviously afford such things, but taking care of ones own house is much more rewarding, and it helps to kill time. After all it's not like I have a job to worry about." Then Joe's mood shifted once again to his darker persona. "And I usually find contact with other people painful and unnecessary…I really hate people sometimes." he added the last part in more of a dreamy tone, which only confused and disturbed Howard even more.

_What kind of man has such violent changes in mood?_ Howard could only imagine what a clearly damaged person like Joe would do with the _Todesengel_. Joe grabbed the food tray and began heading toward the stairs when he heard Hall speak. "Tell me…" he started, "why are you doing all this? What is it you wish to accomplish with this…monstrosity you are forcing me to recreate?" His voice was gruff and hard, filled with hate and disgust still for his captor. He was a little wary at first to bring this up for fear of inciting another mood swing, but he had to at least try and learn something about his plan.

To Howard's relief Joe just chuckled at the question and said, "Now, now Howard. A good poker player waits for the right moment to show his cards. In the mean time, you just keep working alright?"

Hall saw this as a creative way of dodging the question and didn't like it. But he also knew there was little he could do about it. "What about my wife? Can at least see her?" he pleaded.

"Sadly, no. But I assure you she is…fine." he replied lazily, seemingly without interest. The pause was disconcerting and Joe knew that Hall was surly going to protest and question him further. To preempt this he said, "She is fine for the time being and the sooner you complete your work the better condition she will be in when you get her back." Seeing that this did nothing to calm Hall's fears, but not really caring, Joe decided to end the conversation by quickly walking back up the stairs with the tray. Before exiting, however, he made sure to call over his shoulder, "So you might want to get back to work."

(End flashback)

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Hall shuddered at the memory. That had been six days ago and the fear, worry, and guilt were taking their toll on him, mentally and physically. It didn't help that he had barely eaten or sleep since he had been kidnapped. He felt himself withering away at an alarming rate. He had lost almost fifteen pounds in his short time in captivity and that too began weighing on his mind. He took some comfort in knowing that he had, after almost a week of nonstop working, succeeded in recreating project _Todesengel_. But that only lead to more problems for Hall. He was disturbed at how swiftly things had moved. He still remembered every detail of the experiment even though he had not thought about it in forty-eight years. He was positively disgusted with himself for it all coming together so easily. He sat in a chair, racked with exhaustion, depression, and utter hopelessness._ I don't want to give that man…that __**monster**__ the _Todesengel_…I can't…but what choice do I have?_ He had been agonizing over that question for what seemed like hours (there were no clocks or windows in his area so it was impossible to tell what time it was). Not wanting to continue brooding over his situation anymore, but still unable to sleep, Howard took this time to look around where he was being kept. Something he had been too busy to do until now. He lazily swept his eyes over the lab equipment that he had been working with, saw the bathroom that was there for him to use and other things that did not interest him. Then his eyes caught something strange. Instead of the usual gray background of the stone walls he saw a small glint from something covered by a sheet on a table across the room. Curiosity dictated that he get up and inspect further. Once he reached the sheet he saw it had several holes and tares in it. He removed the sheet carefully to see some type of golden, mechanical device under it. After looking at it for some time he realized it was an antique, rotary style telephone. _Well that's nice. It would be even nicer if I could use this thing, _he thought as he looked at the large, ornate piece of decoration. But as he looked at the table it was sitting on he saw a cord coming down and going into the wall. _There's no way…_he thought as he reached out and picked up the receiver. He lifted it to his ear and, to his shock and delight, heard a dial tone. He looked around to make sure he wasn't being watched and dialed 911. _I can't believe this! Apparently mister Mengele has never kidnapped anyone before. _He asked the operator for the police and waited. When he heard a voice ask him what his emergency was he began to explain as best as he could. "Yes, my name is Dr. Howard Hall and I have been kidnapped by a man named Josef Mengele II and I have been forced to recreate the _Todesengel _project…No I don't know where I'm being held but I can tell you it is most likely an old…"

"Ahem!" Howard froze in place. He turned around and saw Joe standing behind him with a pistol. The same pistol that he had used to kill so many of Howards colleague. Joe slowly took the phone and hung it up, his eyes never leaving Howard's. None of the usual humor or politeness was on Joe's face now. "I had forgotten about this phone. That is unfortunate…for you." Joe brought his other hand up to cock the gun with a devilish, metallic 'click'.

Hall began to panic, knowing he was caught. He tried to think of viable reason for Joe to keep him alive but was only able to come up with, "You still need me to finish _Todesengel_." This was a lie of coarse. _I just hope he doesn't know that. _

Joe pointed over to a computer screen behind him. "I can read doctor." he said angrily.

Hall looked and saw the console was showing the message 'Organism Synthesis Complete' in flashing letters. _Oh my…_

BANG

**(A/N: I'm sure you can figure out what just happened)**

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Meanwhile Speck was sitting in his office awaiting the arrival of his appointment. Soon Eli walked into the room, right on time for his meeting with Speck. _Punctual, that's a good quality to have in this line of work_, Speck thought as he motioned for Eli to sit. "Hello sergeant. I'm glad you could see me because I have something important to discuss with you." He paused to see Eli was sitting very rigid in his chair, silent and at attention. "You can relax sergeant. Your not in trouble." He saw Eli relax a little and figured that a little would be the best he would get. "As I'm sure you've heard I have been promoted to an entirely new rank…"

"Yes sir. Congratulations sir." Eli quickly said.

Speck couldn't help but smirk a little at this. He looked at the man in front of him more closely. _Spotless uniform devoid of any imperfection or error, a strict and firm obedience to the rules…mostly, more than a decade of fieldwork, great leadership skills and a good head on his shoulders too. Yup, this is the right man for sure_, he thought. "Right…thanks. Since I was promoted out of my former position that means that the seat of commissioner is open…and I want you to fill it." Speck anticipated that Eli would need a few second for that to fully register so he waited until the inevitable questions came.

"But…but sir…there are many other people who are ahead of me in rank…" Eli said. He was absolutely shocked by this. Never in his wildest dreams did he imagine this opportunity being presented to him.

"And not many of them are ahead of you in skill." Speck countered. "I have thoroughly looked through the files of every cop in this district and I can safely say that you are the best man for the job in my mind." Seeing that Eli was going to protest again Speck quickly cut him off by saying, "Now before you say anything else I'll have you know that the paper work is already being processed, but that could take a week or so to finish so you can take that time to think it over. And that's all I ask. Just think about it OK?"

Eli was breathless for a moment but was able finally able to force out an "…OK. Is that it then?"

Speck smirked again in triumph as he said, "Yes that should be ev…" He was cut off however when another officer opened his office door.

The officer looked nervous about something as he spoke. "Sir! You know that case that we're all supposed to be looking out for? Well we just got a 911 call that said a Dr. Howard Hall has been kidnapped and is being held by somebody called Josef Mengele II."

"Really?" Speck had to ask, as he was a little surprised that the case that he had made his top priority and had been working on for almost a week had just solved it's self. _Now the only thing left to do is rescue the hostage and take this Mengele guy into custody, _Speck thought confidently."Alright good. Was there any other useful information in the call like a location or a motive?"

"Uh…no location but…but I think the doctor said something about being forced to work on some project called…what was it…_Todesengel _I think."

"Hmm…OK I want you to…" Speck began to give the necessary orders, but then had a better idea. "Actually I need to make some calls so…do you think you could handle this…commissioner?" he asked Eli with a wink.

Eli quickly stood, saluted briskly and gave a hearty "Yes SIR!" and walked out of the room while giving orders to the other officer.

_Good man. Damn good man, _Speck thought proudly. _Now to make that call. I'm sure Flagg is going to want to hear about this. _He picked up his phone and dialed the number on a card Flagg had given him. "Hello…Flagg? You answer your own phone? Never mind, there's been a break in that case I've been working on."

**"Really? What would that be?"**

"Well we know pretty much everything we need to know actually. We have the name of the criminal and now that we have that we can track down his location…which we're doing right now. I just thought you'd want to know that. And also, the doctor said he was being forced to complete some project called _Todesengel. _Does that mean anything to you?"

**"…Unfortunately that means a lot to me. Speck since I assume your going to use your whole precinct on this. I can tell you that it won't be enough. I want you to call in the Loonitics in for support."**

"...But…but Flagg…sir I don't think…"

"**Listen to me Speck! This is way over your head now and we can't afford to take any chances on this! So do as I told you and do it NOW!" **CLICK

Speck hung up the phone and sighed in defeat as he picked it up again to call on his worst nightmare's for help…again. _Why me? _he thought miserably.

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**Only a few more chapters to go I think. The last part is kind of weird but I just wanted to get this out there before the end of the month…why? I'm not sure...Anyway R&R OK.**


	13. Revilations

****

**Ch13: Hello. Unlucky thirteen. I'm not really superstitious but it's still a little weird.**

**CrazyInSye: It's always nice to have someone who always provides good commentary and advice to a writer like me, and you are certainly one of those people. For that I thank you.**

**Master Crane: Obrigado pela sua opinião positiva. Incidentally, I really hope you speak Portuguese or else this will make me look really stupid. I assume you do, being located in Brazil and all. If I am wrong I am sorry for making that assumption.**

**Due to the fact that I have gotten some reviews saying that my 'in story' author's notes are distracting I have decided to use another method to tell you people things. I'll put a mark like this* and write the note at the end of the story. That should help keep the flow going smoother.**

**Only a few more chapters I suspect (five, counting this one). R&R.**

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Lexi stood out on a small balcony of the tower late in the afternoon. Normally she would be admiring the city as the diminishing sunlight of the afternoon made the buildings sparkle and glow. Unfortunately she was unable to do that today. For one, the rotten weather had persisted through out the week as predicted and the rain showed no sign of stopping. The only reason the downpour was not drenching her was thanks to the roof that extended over the balcony. Besides the nasty weather she was also kept from appreciating the scenery by her thoughts, particularly her thoughts on a certain resident of the tower. As she thought about that her sensitive ears heard someone coming even before they had said anything.

As it turns out it was Ace who was walking out to join Lexi on the balcony. "Hey Lexi." he greeted her in his usual casual manner. He had noticed Lexi had been going off on her own more often lately and was wondering why. So he decided to find out.

Lexi turned and greeted him in much the same way, with only a casual 'hey'.

Ace walked forward and leaned on the railing like Lexi and remained silent for a few minuets. He soon realized that she was perfectly content with the both of them standing in silence when that was counter productive to Ace's ultimate goal. "So…what are you doing out here?" he finally asked, not wanting to pry but still growing a little impatient.

"Just…thinking." Lexi replied absentmindedly.

This answer wasn't satisfying for Ace. "About…?" he attempted to get her to expound on her previous answer by letting the question hang in the air without being finished.

At first Lexi seemed to hesitate, then finally said "Shade", but quickly added "And some of the things he's said."

This concerned Ace more than a little, not only for what Lexi had just said but also because she now seemed to be avoiding eye contact with him deliberately. "Really?" was all Ace said at first.

He prepared to continue but Lexi had a good idea what he was going to say so she spoke first. "Lately I just can't help but feel that he has a point about some things."

Ace was getting slightly agitated now but kept his composure while he asked, "Right about what things exactly?"

"Things like how what he does isn't that different from what we do." she explained a little shyly.

Ace finally had to object to that. "What? Your kidding right?" He realized that might have been a little harsh but it was just ridicules.

Lexi wasn't surprised by his disapproval, and she still wanted to try to convince him that what she, and by extension Shade, was saying wasn't crazy. "No. We both fight crime and catch criminals." Lexi was fairly certain that as long as she justified her feelings with logic Ace would eventually see what she was talking about.

"Yeah, but there's a big problem with the way he does it. He kills the criminals once he's caught them. I can't believe I have to explain this to you!"***** Ace exclaimed in a far louder and still harsher tone.

Lexi, however, didn't really care how she was being talked to at the moment. Partly because she knew why Ace was acting the way he was...or at least thought she knew. She suspected that the presence of this strange and dangerous character had rattled his cage somewhat. The fact that he also had a radically different way of life and view of the world that caused almost everyone on the team to question their own beliefs was also a problem. She also wasn't paying attention to how he was treating her because her own emotions were a bit frazzled as well. It was hard for her to understand and even harder to explain to someone else. Whenever her thoughts turned to Shade she found it hard to think of anything else. Like a fog would set in over her and he was the only clear thing. A strange fluttering in her stomach also followed, and it only grew worse when she was near him. Then the fluttering would be accompanied by a quickening pulse and a radiating warmth throughout her body.***** This was all baffling to Lexi, as her body had never reacted in such a way around someone. It was only after thinking about all this that she noticed Ace had been talking for some time and she had completely tuned out.

"…and one man shouldn't be able to make decisions like that." She heard him finish what must have been a long lecture. He had not noticed she wasn't listening because he had been on a tirade and was simply too upset to notice.

Since she had not heard all of what Ace had said Lexi decided to just make a comment she had wanted to say for some time. "Well since when have you been so worried about following the rules?" As far as she could remember Ace had been pretty lax on instituting a rulebook for them all to follow. _He's always given off that rebellious vibe anyway _she thought_._

"Yeah but there are some rules that shouldn't be broken…**ever**…by **anyone**, and killing people is one of them." Ace responded with more suppressed agitation. He could see what she was saying about him not being a stickler for rules, but he also knew that there were some rules that just aren't negotiable.

"Lot's of people die Ace, criminals or not." she responded simply. She didn't expect that to go over very well with Ace, but she wasn't thinking very clearly.

"I know that Lexi…and I know that sometimes that is what it comes too, but going out of your way to kill people, criminals or not, is not right. And expecting to be able to go where ever and do whatever you want like Shade does makes it even worse. He acts like it's no big deal…he acts like he doesn't care about…"

He was going to continue but Lexi abruptly cut him off by shouting "THAT'S NOT TRUE! You have no idea what he's even been through!"

In all honesty they were both surprised by that outburst and neither of them knew quite what to make of it. Lexi knew what had made her do it but did not really understand it. As soon as she heard Ace talk about how it seemed like Shade didn't care about what he was doing she suddenly felt very defensive of him…but why? She didn't really know the answer. "He knows the consequences very well…" she continued in a quieter voice after a bit of silence, "…and he's willing to accept them…eventually. And I'm not saying that we should be doing…what he does, but maybe somebody should." As the last part of her statement hung* in the air they both wondered at what to do next.

That question was answered for them when they both heard the phone ringing back in the tower. "I'd better go get that." Ace said with a slight grumble as he walked back to answer the call. He was upset about ending the conversation like that, but they could not ignore their primary duties of protecting the city. Ace picked up the receiver and answered. "Hello?"

There was a brief moment of silence before Ace heard anything. Then, **"Ace…this is Speck and…I'm calling to…to tell you that we have made a break in that kidnapping case and…and I want you and your team to be at the location when we bring the guy in."** It was Speck obviously. His words extremely strained, as he was obviously uncomfortable with what he was doing still.

"Well, well, well. Twice in one week? Aren't I lucky. Just give me the coordinates and we'll be there." _Maybe a little action will let Lex and me blow off some steam._

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(Meanwhile…)

Tech and Shade stood in the lab once again, only now Tech had a specific reason for having Shade there. He intended to thank him for helping mend his relationship with Rev. He had thought about doing it sooner, since they had reconciled more than two days ago, but he just kept putting it off for reason. He was very relived when Rev had found him that day…

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(Flashback)

Tech wandered aimlessly through the extensive array of empty corridors in the tower to kill time. Normally he would be working in his lab but he had been too preoccupied for the past couple of days. The situation with Rev had not yet been resolved and that was what had been occupying his thoughts. He desperately wanted to talk to him about what had happened, but Rev had been avoiding him for some time. It wasn't very hard for him to do this given: the large size of their home, his super speed, and his natural GPS. All these things meant that it was easy for Rev to go without seeing him for two days. That in itself made Tech feel bad, but he was also distraught over the fact that the entire problem had been caused by him. _It's my fault, _he thought as he suddenly stopped in the empty hall. Not wanting to walk anymore he leaned against the wall and slowly slid into a sitting position. _It's always my fault. I'm such an idiot,_ he thought morosely as he drew his knees to his chest and placed his head on them. While Tech wallowed in the dangerous combination of self-pity and anger he was approached by the source of his self-inflicted torment. Rev stopped and sat down next to Tech and waited for him notice he was there. With his head covered by his arms it took some time for Tech to realize there was someone next to him. As he raised his head and saw that it was Rev that was sitting next to him there was a brief moment of panic as he now had to think of what to say. "Rev? Listen I…"

"Wait. Just let me talk first." Rev cut him off before he could say much because he had things he needed to say. " I've been thinking for the past few days and…avoiding you because I needed to decide if…if I still want to be your friend." He paused to see Tech's reaction. He looked worried.

Tech took note of the fact that Rev was specking at a far slower pace than usual, and he knew it required a lot of concentration to do so. Knowing that, Tech made sure to pay very close attention to what he was saying.

After seeing that Tech was focused solely on him he continued. "Sometimes you say things that upset me, but I know you aren't trying to insult me so I try not to let it get to me." He stopped looking at Tech then and instead looked to the floor. "But then I thought about how it happens so much and that just made me even angrier." Rev knew that would worry Tech and continued quickly. "So I stayed away from you for two days…and I didn't like it. I missed being around you and talking to you and…I just missed you. I like being with you and I like being your friend…but you make it hard sometimes..."

Tech had to resist the urge to beg Rev for forgiveness as soon as he stopped talking. He didn't because Rev had said he wanted to talk first, so for now Tech held his tongue. He saw the graveness of his words and his somber face mirrored it. For a moment he was anxious about where this conversation would end. The way Rev had been veering all over the place during his speech left him unable to determine what was going to come of this. His fears were finally put to rest as he saw Rev turn back to him and smile.

"…So I guess I'll have to try harder." was all Rev said, and it was all he had to say because he saw Tech's face immediately light up.

Tech was relieved beyond belief. He was feeling so ecstatic in fact he really didn't know what to do. So he did the first thing that came to mind, and the first thing he thought to do was to give Rev a hug of gratitude. Unfortunately this move was so sudden that it was more of a tackle than a hug, so it sent theboth of them down to the ground.

Tech sill managed to wrap his arms around the startled roadrunner and voice his gratefulness. "Thank you Rev. I promise you won't regret this. I won't let you down."

"Alright-Tech-I-believe-you-so-you-can-let-me-back-up-now." Rev said as he struggled slightly under Tech's weigh. Still, he felt better knowing that for now things between him and Tech would go back to normal. Tech got off him and they both stood up and started walking to where the elevator was since they were not on one of the main floors of the tower. "And-if-you-really-want to-thank-someone-you-should-thank-Shade-after-all-he's-the-one-that-gave-me-advice-and-helped-me-make-my-decision." Rev said as they walked down the hall.

Tech stopped as he heard that and stood rigid for a second. "Oh really? I think I will have to talk to him about that…" he said a little oddly, but then when he saw the confused look Rev gave him he continued, "…and thank him." _Yes…I should thank him…and I will…eventually._

(End Flashback)

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That had been three days ago and Tech was only addressing it now. "Shade I…I wanted to thank you for giving Rev whatever help you gave him." he said rather uncomfortably.

"Glad I could help." Shade said in his very equable character. He had been wondering if that was going to come up with Tech but he had decided not to mention it.

Tech expected Shade to reply like that, and for some reason it really irritated him. "But you know I could have handled the situation just fine, like I always do. There really was no reason for you to interfere." he said in a snide sort of tone.

This did not get by Shade. He saw it very clearly in fact. _Alright, what the hell?_ he thought. Every time he and Tech interacted he had been treated with hostility. It was a more subtle and dull sort of hostility, almost passive aggressive, but he had still picked up on it. Everything he said seemed to irritate Tech in some way, and his irritation had started to spread to Shade. "Tech…do you have some kind of issue with me?" he asked with agitation more evident in his body language than in his actual facial expression**. **With his mucles tensing and him folding his armes over his chest.** "**I've been getting this weird feeling from you from the first time I met you and I don't know why."

For a brief moment Tech didn't know how to react, but as he thought about the question the answer came pretty easily. "Yes. Yes I do." he said simply, almost not believing it himself. But it had suddanly become painfully clear.

"Well…why? I know I beat you and you friends up a little but I already apologized for that and I can't really think of any other reason…" Shade tried to stay in an even calmer state than usual because he wanted to avoid confentation with Tech. But he was unable to finish what he had been saying.

As Tech listened to Shade and his calm speech he felt his eyes narrow and his hands clench into tight fists. For the whole time he had know Shade he had not felt completely comfortable around him, and the more time he spent with him the discomfort gradually turned to animosity. "There is another reason. I had forgiven you for fighting and beating us…and so I didn't know why I still didn't like you…but now I've figured it out. It's because of what you did to me when we tried to catch you." Seeing that Shade was still confused he continued, only gaining intensity. "It was my plan to lure you out with Sypher…and it was because he was a part of my plan that he died…you killed him and I was responsible. His blood is on my hands just as much as yours...and I don't think I can ever forgive you for that."

They stared at each other now, Shade with confusion and Tech with anger. Before either of them could speak they heard Ace come in through the COM link, **"Tech, we need you in the hanger right now. We got a mission." **Without responding to Ace Tech moved to leave. He walked out and Shade dissolved back into his body silently.

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**(You may want to skip to the end notes if you are not entertained by my inane ramblings and apologies)**

**Sorry I didn't really say anything at the end here the first time. I was under some time constraints(by which I mean I thought if I could finish this chapter before the end of August then I wouldn't be a total failure as a writer, although I may be wrong in thinking that). Anyway This chapter was a little hard for me, but for a different reason than usual. It was still writers block but it was because of the specific scenes in it. Like the first one with Ace and Lexi. When I had originally made this story in my head I head not thought of that part, and I really didn't want to put it in because it just didn't feel right. Like I had to force it at first. I thought i should put it in for one main reason. I may have underdeveloped a relationship by being too subtle with it(I won't just say it but if you have not figured it out yet...) and pretty soon there is going to be a BIG romance scene and I didn't want people to feel like it came out of no where. So there was that. Then the whole flash-back with Tech and Rev was another last minuet addition. I knew I should have had a scenethat actually showed Rev and Tech's reconciliation, but as pertaining to the time-line I sort of jumped aheadwithout really taking care of it(which caused me to partake in much self loathing and regret). BUT, all in all I'm happy with how this whole chapter turned out. ****I do apologise for any glaring mistakes in it. I didn't have time to edit at all since I finished it about five minuets before midnight on August 31. So I was still cutting it pretty close. **

**But I digress. I hope I got most of the mistakes out but feel free to point anything out. Anything at all. Seriosly...anything.**

***1: I apologise if any of the characters come off as too OOC. In my mind I just( in the case of Ace) trying to ad some more depth to a somewhat 2d character by giving some more humanistic weakness. That's what I was trying to do, but I could have failed misserably. You can tell me your opinion...you know...if want...please?**

***2: It's really hard to put the emotion of love into words isn't it? Maybe it's just beond my grasp.**

***3: I really have no idea if that is the right word, so help? please.**

**I should also mention that I wanted to thank BlazingSilverStar for making me one of their favorit authers. I really apreciat it, I'm glad you like my stories and I hope I won't dissapoint you. (Incidently I would LOVE a reviw from you, if you don't mind...just a short one...as of right now there have been no reviews...so I'm a little scared...and sad).**


	14. A Turn For The Worst

**Ch14: Hi. I had two chances and I still didn't fix all the mistakes OR say everything I meant to. 'sigh' Oh well. But I should mention that I am back in school now so that may put a damper on things in the future.**

**First I'll say thanks to ****ChickiChickiHirhri for marking my story as a favorite. I appreciate it so much, but I would like to give you the same message as ****BlazingSilverStar (only slightly altered). Any kind of recognition is fantastic but a review would be super-excellent.**

**And of coarse a big, big, BIG 'thank you' to PurpleGirly for…well everything. As for your review… Thanks for reminding me that people have lives that don't revolve around my stories. I act humble but I guess I do have an ego of sorts. I'm glad you enjoy my character. In all honesty it didn't take long to come up with the idea of who Shade was. The tall dark and scary guy with no emotion who shoots black fire out of his hands and carries a revolver and wears a cowboy hat and cape, simple. Working out the actual nuts and bolts of his powers was considerably more difficult because I'm not extremely smart when it comes to science, but I think it worked out fine. And any problems there are can be ironed out in the future. You are pretty correct when you say it's a darker fic. It's not fluff for sure, and I appreciate the praise greatly. Every time someone tells me I'm a good writer I sleep a little better at night. Now first I thought, "Wow, I'm being asked to look over someone else's story to help them? I never thought that would happen." But after that I thought, "OK a quick read and review. I can do that, maybe think of some advice and stuff. 'The Big Mistake…Romance/Drama' not really my forte but alright, 'Ace/Lexi' a little obvious, but still alright '32 chapters…172,612 words…and counting…..' oh good god." BUT NO WORRIES. I WILL READ YOUR STORY IN IT'S ENTIRETY!…eventually…just not right now. I want to finish my story first so I can devote my full attention to making a full and comprehensive review of your story. Five stars now and another five by the end maybe? I'll try to update soonish.**

**And I have to thank ****Thatch126 and Celestial-Kitsunei for making "Monster" a favorite of theirs.**

**ANYWAY I think that's it so…**

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Tech quickly hurried down to the hanger as he tried to get his head into the right mindset for a mission. His brief confrontation with Shade had left him rather agitated and galvanic. Little did he know that Ace was in much the same mood after his talk with Lexi. As he walked into the hanger he saw the others all assemble as well. Ace motioned for him to come over to the Supersonic Transport. "Ok, now that we're all here we can leave. Everybody load up and…" Ace began to give the command but was quickly interrupted.

"Where are you going?" Shade asked as he sat up from his cot. Wanting to investigate the source of the commotion.

Ace was not feeling very cordial at the moment so he tried to give a short answer and leave. "Out." was the shortest and most complete answer he bothered to come up with at present.

He again tried to board the aircraft "Your leaving me all alone? That's awfully risky wouldn't you say?" Shade said in the very deadpan manner that he always liked to use.

Ace was in no mood to carry on any witty banter unfortunately and he was struggling to keep his anger contained. "No, I think you'll be fine. We really need all of us for this." And with that he refused to be detained anymore and simply boarded the craft. Followed closely by Lexi, Slam, Duck, Tech, and Rev.

"Well good luck with that…and be careful too." Shade said, feeling a little jilted since no one had really taken the time to even acknowledge him. However he wasn't completely ignored as Rev did pause to give him a smile and a wave goodbye. This pleased Shade and he returned it (though with much less enthusiasm). _Must be something important, _Shade thought as he watched the aircraft take off through the opening in the wall. As he thought about it he had an idea._ Maybe I should…monitor them. Make sure nothing happens to my hosts. _He concentrated and used his astral projection to appear on the Loonatic'sship. He had neglected to tell Tech or anyone else that when in this form he could control who was able to see him and who could not. At present he decided to stay completely concealed. Quietly observing and making sure nothing went awry.

The air was thick in the Supersonic Transport. Some didn't notice, and others were choking on it. The only sound was the distant thunder and the occasional sprinkle of rain against the hull of the ship. Ace and Tech were both stuck in their own pits of anger and frustration as they both contemplated ether to try and work through the strange and rather confusing feelings they had or to ignore them for the time being. Lexi, too, was consumed by her own thoughts and was relatively dead to the world as she thought about her talk with Ace and more closely looked at her own actions to try and find why she had reacted the way she had. Things continued on in silence for about ten minuets and it seemed that it would stay that way for the whole trip until the communication monitor lit up to display the image of a man dressed in what they all recognized as the standard military uniform of their planet. He began to address them,

"**Hello Loonitics. My name is Col. Flagg and I'm contacting you to relay some very important information concerning the man your currently heading to apprehend." **Yes it was indeed Col. Falgg speaking to them now, with his hard, accusing stare sill in effect.

He was obviously planing on continuing but Tech had something to say first. "This is suppose to be a private communication line…how did you get on?" he asked in a rather accusatory tone. He was genuinely worried about the fact that some one had managed to infiltrate the highly complex communication system that was their own personal link to one another. He had been very blunt about the subject only because he was still on edge form his previous altercation.

A scowl flashed across Flagg's face as he heard Tech's question, but he quickly subdued his anger and addressed them in the same, somewhat urgent tone as before. **"That's not important right now. What is important is that you know what your getting into."** His face was very grim and deathly serious, so no one dared to question him further. **"We have reason to believe that the criminal has access to a highly dangerous bio-weapon. We can't confirm if he has it in his possession but if there is even a chance than the situation must be handled with the utmost care and precision."**

"That's how we **always **do things." Duck pointed out indignantly.

Again Flagg had to restrain himself. _This is not the time to bite their heads off...even if they deserve it._ **"I understand that, but what I'm saying is you need to treat this case with the proper respect and caution given the severity of the weapon you may find yourself up against."**

"So what exactly **is **this bio-weapon, and why is it so dangerous?" Ace asked.

"**I've already told you every thing I can I'm afraid. The only other things I can tell you is that the criminal's name is ****Josef ****Mengele II** **and the weapon is called **_**Todesengel. **_**What ever this man is planning to do with it, it won't be good and you have to stop him at all costs."**

Ace wasn't very happy about the fact that Flagg apparently knew more than what he was telling, but as he saw they were getting close to their destination he decided to end the transmission. "Well thanks for the info Falgg. We'll make sure that this guy doesn't get to use that weapon."

"**I know you won't let me down."** And with that the transmission was ended.

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Flagg turned off the monitor as he concluded the conversation. He looked back to another man in the office. "Is every thing ready?"

"Yes sir. Our agents tracking the Loonatics say they'll be at the location at any moment." the other man (apparently Flagg's subordinate) replied quickly. Being in the presence of his boss was always nerve racking for everyone. Flagg had such an intense, almost suffocating personality. Many of his underlings suspected he had a lighter side, but he rarely showed it.

"And the police?" Flagg asked.

"They will arrive about twenty minuets after them, so our agents say." the man said with no small amount of pride that everything was going as planed. He was happy that there was no bad news for him to deliver and he expected Flagg to be in a good mood considering the situation. But his mood changed only slightly.

"Very well then, proceed with the plan."Flagg replied now slightly more relaxed. As his subordinate got up to leave Flagg made sure to add, "And I don't want any surprises." his tone lower and more menacing than usual. Turning his hard stare on the poor man who was about to all but flea his office in terror.

He swallowed silently. "Yes sir. Of coarse sir" And exited the room.

Flagg grinned to himself "Good. I hate surprises."

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The area the Loonatics had entered was in one of the few unincorporated areas of Acmetropolis. The government had seized several pieces of the natural environments in order to protect them decades ago. However it eventually became too expensive to maintain the land, so the Acmetropolis council started renting it out to private citizens. * The deal was that the land would only be used for residency and not for business. There was also a large tax for whoever waned to live on the land. This made sure that only the richest could afford to take the offer.

They soon came across a large mansion that was separated from the dense vegetation that seemed to be composed mostly of pine and oak trees. It was a large and extravagant place that must have cost a fortune. Duck whistled as he saw the house. "Man this is a palace. Why can't we live in a place like this?" he said in his usual whinny tone.

"Are you done?" Ace snapped as he got out of the aircraft. After seeing Duck nod timidly he quickly addressed the rest of them. "Ok, you all heard what Flagg said. We can't let this guy do what ever he's planning and to do that we need to stop him now. Which means we can't wait for Speck to get here."

"Is that really wise chief? We might need their help." Tech asked with a little uncertainty in his voice. He didn't like the idea of asking Speck for assistance any more than anyone else, but to not wait for the police seemed to be an unnecessaryrisk. Something that could not be tolerated at a time like this.

"And-besides-that-Speck-probably-will-not-be-happy-if-we-just-go-in-before-he-gets-here-and-he-already-doesn't-like-us-all-that-much-for-some-reason-so-we-really-don't-need-to-give-him-another-reason-to-be-angry-with…" Rev rambled on for a bit until Tech clamped his beak shut without even taking his eyes off Ace.

"No we don't need their help and we can't afford to wait, so lets just go and get it done." Ace said with finality and walked off to the front entrance to the building, essentially disregarding Tech's objections and outright ignoring Rev altogether.

Shade, who had been quietly observing all of them, found Ace's attitude rather peculiarr and out of charecter. _First Tech snaps at me, and now Ace is going down the same road, _Shade thought with equal parts puzzlement and disbelief. _They had all seemed pretty reasonable when we first met. Now it seems I may have misjudged them…well some of them, _he corrected himself with small smirk as he saw Rev pout at being ignored (which was somewhat confusing as to how he was able to do that since he didn't have any lips) but quickly brushed it off and followed the others without making anything else out of it. _A very valuable quality I would say._ As he saw them walking away he began to follow.

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In the manor Joe was quickly getting things together for the final step of his plan now that the _Todesengel _was safely in his possession. He grabbed the two things he knew he would need, the glass vial that contained the most powerful and devastating weapon the world had ever seen, or was about to see, and his pistol, both tucked into his back pockets. The vile on the left, the gun on the right. He exited his room upstairs and quickly ran through the plan again in his head. _Take the vial down the stairs, out the door to the garage and onward to…_he stopped mid-thought as he saw the Loonatics enter his house through the front door. He grimaced heavily, dreading what the future might hold, but wiped it away and decided to not give up just yet.

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Speck rodein front of a long line of police cruisers as they sped to the address that Josef was listed under. They were bringing almost 100 cops to the area in order to make sure nothing went wrong. The drive had been quiet mostly since his traveling companions were Eli and his crew. No one seemed to want to say anything in front of the Chief of police for fear of upsetting him. Jay drummed his fingers on the door with nervous energy as he stared out the window. Andy had his hands laced together and had been inspecting his shoes for the entire trip. Eli, who was driving the vehicle, stayed quiet as well. It seemed each man wanted to focus on the duty that awaited them. "How much longer?" Speck asked.

"About fifteen minuets sir." Eli answered.

_Not soon enough,_ Speck thought sourly.

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Joe put on a confident smile as he walked down the large steps that led to an open area in front of his door. "Greetings and welcome to my home." His sudden, genial greeting startled the Loonatics as they all turned to see him casually walking down the stairs. "Although I must ask why I have been given the privilege of having guest here tonight?"

His polite and refined speech threw the Loonatics off at first but they shook it off. Ace was the first one to speak. "Are you Josef Mengele II?" he asked sternly.

"Yes, yes I am. And you would be…?" Joe said innocently.

"Don't be coy buddy. We know what your up to and we're here to put a stop to it." Duck said with his standard, showy bravado he employed when confronting enemies.

"And what am I up to? I've done nothing wrong." He replied as his smile faltered and he took on an almost hurt expression.

"There's blood on your shirt." Tech pointed out coldly as he had studied the man closely since he appeared.

Joe glanced down at his shirt and saw that there was indeed a small amount of blood on it. He had put on a different suit coat after he had shot Hall, but kept the under shirt to save time. "Very astute of you. So then I guess you know who I am and what I'm doing right?" he asked shrewdly, continually walking down the steps as he spoke.

"Yes, and we're here to bring you in and retrieve the _Todesengel_." Ace said as he watched Josef reach the bottom of the staircase.

"So you know about the project do you…well do you know what it does? No. Then let me explain it for you." Joe began walking forward after he had made it to the bottom floor and began to slowly walk out further away from the stairs. He saw Ace wanting to say something so he quickly continued. "It was my fathers greatest achievement…and he looked at it as a failure. It was originally called a 'cellular solvent' and its purpose was to seek out and destroy cancerous cells by attaching to water molecules and entering into the cell. Once inside this handy little virus would feed on the cell membrane and the cytoskeleton. Once those were gone the remaining organelles drift apart and the cell dies." Joe paused to see they were all watching him intently. He smiled as he began to tell his favorite part of the story. "The only problem was…it worked too well. It would not just kill the cancerous cells, but all cells. Once it was introduced into a living subject they found it multiplied at an incredible rate. Within 72 hours of the injection the subjects were nothing more then a pile of goo and some bones. Due to my family's history and because of the grim nature of the virus itself they began calling it the _Todesengel_, or the angle of death. My father and Dr. Hall were the head scientists and very brilliant microbiologist at that time. They thought they could perfect the virus but the government lost their nerve and scraped the project, ordering all information on it destroyed."***** Ending his story Joe made sure to glance behind him subtly. He had quietly maneuvered himself so that he was now in front of the door to his garage. All he needed now was distraction and he could make his escape.

"So what are you planing on doing with it?" Lexi couldn't help but ask.

Joe smiled. "I'm going to unleash it of coarse." he said as it were the simplest thing in the world.

"You're mad! You going to destroy all life on the planet if you let that **thing** out." Tech shouted as he was very alarmed. If what this man was saying was true then it could be a serious threat all life on the planet.

"No actually I won't, and **that **is the true genius of this virus. It cannot destroy the thicker cell wall that surrounds the cells of plants." Joe beamed at this as his confidence rose. "So life will go on. It's just the animal kingdom that will suffer."

"That doesn't matter cause we're putting a stop to this right now. Your not going to leave here with the _Todesengel_. You can either give it to us or we can take it." Ace said firmly. As he said this the sounds of sirens could be heard outside the building. Ace smirked all the more. "You here that. Your house is surrounded and there is no way out."

After hearing the sirens Joe frowned. He hadn't expected to be delayed for so long. But he quickly bounced back. He slumped his shoulders and cast his eyes downward. "Well guess that's it then. I've been beaten. Bravo, bravo. I surrender." He made some large hand gestures and even bowed a little.

Shade had been watching the entire exchange with great interest. Focusing mostly on Josef. Watching his moves carefully. He heard the explanation of what the _Todensengel _was and what it could do. He would have been lying if he had said he was not impressed. _Simple and very effective. Good thing he's not going to get to put his plan into action. Now that the police are here we can just hope he doesn't do anything stupid._ And that's what he was waiting for.

"Well I have the virus in my back pocket so I'll just take it out and hand it over to you…"

"I don't think so." Lexi said as she walked over toward him suddenly. "I'll get it. Hands up." she ordered.

Joe's mind quickly did a flip, instantaneously changing strategies. "Very well. If you insist." he said as he lifted his arms over his head.

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Outside Speck was hurriedly setting up a police blockade of the perimeter of the house. "You men move your car over there and you go over there. We need to fill these gaps." He roughly barked out the orders as officers hustled to follow them. He looked up at the house as one of the lieutenants rushed up to him.

"The back of the house is surrounded sir, but the helicopters won't be able to take off with the weather the way it is."

Speck growled at this news. "Fine, fine. Go make sure the left is secure." With that order the officer ran back around the perimeter to the left and out of sight.

Soon after that Eli came jogging up to Speck. "We're all set up on the right side sir. Do you think we have enought men to take care of this?" He said.

"Well as commissioner do you think we have enough?" Speck asked abruptly as he stared at the house.

Eli was a little taken aback by the question being reversed on him but quickly answered. "Yes sir, I think we do." confidence prominent in his voice.

"God I hope so." Speck replied quietly.

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All the other Loonatics tensed once Lexi had begun approaching Josef, but did not object. They all knew this was far safer and Lexi could handle herself if he tried anything. And they would be right behind her, ready to jump in and back her up. "Which pocket?" she asked him once she was standing directly in front of him.

The slightly taller man struggled to keep a smirk subdued as he answered. "The right one." She reached back and felt for it. When she gave him a questioning and suspicious look he anticipated what she was thinking. He spoke in a hushed tone so that the others could not hear him as he said, "It's in a special injection system. It only feels like a gun." He had to bite his tongue to keep from laughing now. He waited in a few seconds of hope (if he were a religious man he would have prayed then) that she took the bait. She seemed to accept this, although grudgingly, as she gingerly lifted the "injection system" out of his pocket. She pulled it completely out of his pocket and brought it from behind Josef's back. Once she looked at it however and saw it was obviously no medical device she tried to react, but it was too late. With quick reflexes Josef grabbed for the gun. Lexi resisted and they struggled for all of five seconds. After which time a loud 'BANG' was heard inside the house and out.

Rev, being the fastest, was the first to react. Even as he saw Josef's hands drop down for the gun he knew he had to do something. By the time the gun went off he was already halfway across the room and before the sound even finished reverberating off the high ceilings of the house he had charged into Josef with enough force to send him through the door he had been standing in front of. The door was forced open and was flung backward as Joe's full weight was so suddenly and quickly thrown against it. Rev quickly regained his balance from after the hit and was prepared to go into the next room in pursuit of Joe. Then he heard a dripping noise. For a split second he was confused, but he quickly put the pieces together. He turned around and saw Lexi clutching her stomach, a red stain quickly spreading, staining her black uniform.

Ace and the others had to take longer to process what had just transpired. But as they all saw Lexi stagger backward and witnessed her legs tremble under her own weight, tt became painfully obvious what had just happened and the realizations struck them all like a ton of bricks. As Lexi finally collapsed to her knees Ace cried out her name and began running to her, followed immediately by everyone else. She then fell back all the way and Ace just barley caught her. He stared down into her eyes and already they were becoming cloudy and distant. Fear rose up in him as he could almost feel her life fading, slowly seeping away with every ounce of blood that pumped out of her wound. Everyone was crowded around the two and they were all of one mind, though no one dared to voice the one universal thought that they were all sharing. Lexi was a goner.

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Shad had felt his pulse quicken when he saw Lexi approach Joe. He felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise as she got closer to him. At the moment she was standing directly in front of him his small flaw came into the light. A small twitch at the right edge of his mouth. Ever since he was a child when he would get really upset over something the twitch would arise. He had almost no control over it (which is the way with most nervous habits) and now it was here again. He watched as she reached behind his back and pulled out the pistol. Everything seemed to slow down, every moment very clear. He saw Joe's hands drop down and grasp the gun…turning it around and pointing it down…his finger slip into the trigger guard and squeeze. He silently mouthed a single word just before the shot went out. "No…" with the noise his twitch went off again as his heart jumped into his through simultaneously. He contemplated what he had to do quickly and went into action.

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Joe landed on the cement of his garage floor with a low thud but quickly recovered. He felt his other pocket and realized the glass vial was still intact. He looked through the open door way and saw Lexi staggering backward. He smiled in victory. _Sorry __hase__*****__ but it had to be done._ He got up quickly and got into his sports car. He knew there would be police waiting for him on the other side so he decided to take a chance. He started his car and slammed on the gas, propelling the car forward and through the garage door. He quickly made for the main road that led away from his house. There was still a space conveniently large enough for him to just barely fit his car through. There were two cops standing in the gap however. _What must be done must be done_, he thought as he continued to press the gas peddle to the floor. Many police officers jumped away from the speeding car, a few of them opening fire but missed. He quickly reached the gap and plowed through, not giving a second thought to all the lived he had just endangered. _I will __**not**__ be stopped._ He grinned as he tightened his grip on the steering wheel and navigated down the road toward his destination at break neck speed.

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Shade recalled his essence back into his body as quickly as he could. Once in charge of his own physical form again he harshly ripped a shadowy rift in the air and almost jumped into it. He emerged from the portal and quickly strode over to where every one was huddled over Lexi and Ace. He pushed his was through and kneeled down and made a motion to grab Lexi. Ace looked at him and subconsciously tightened his grip on her. Seeing this Shade knew he would have to act fast because Lexi did not have much time left from the looks of it. "Ace let me have her. I'll help her while you go and stop Josef." Seeing doubt and fear in Ace's eyes still he knew he had to really sell it. "Ace… please…trust me." Maybe it was because Ace knew there was nothing he could do to help her, maybe it was because that was the only time he had ever seen Shade displaying any type of emotion at all, but for what ever reason he loosened his grip on Lexi enough for Shade to pick her up bridal style and gently carried her into a rift. Before he left entirely he looked back and said, "Stop Josef and I'll take good care of her. I promise." And with that the two disappeared.

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**DUN-DUN-DUN. I had this done on sunday but it was a bit of a rush job and I did not want a reapeat of last time so I decied to wait to post this. I was camping on monday which is why I did not do it then. But I hope you enjoyed that and I really hope you tell me if you did…or didn't. It doesn't matter which. Just so long as you tell me. Oh and the next chapter is going to be…THE BIG ROMANCE CHAPTER…well probably.**

***1: This is essentially the same thing as the national park service in America. And the council is just something I made up to represent the legislative branch of government, like Congress or Parliament.**

***2: That's German for bunny. Sorry if your German but it is not a very pretty language. Trying to find a word that sounded nice and would fit there was hard.**

**And also this was my longest chapter ever so far at over 5,000 words. I think that's kinda cool.**


	15. In The Land Of Shadows

**Ch15: Hi. I had a note that I didn't address in my last chapter…oops. But it ties in with a review I got so I'll take care of it then. Speaking of which…**

**MasterCrane: …uh…thank you for the review? I'm sorry but I don't actually speak Portuguese. The only way I was able to write that small sentence was with the help of and it's translator feature. I really do appreciate the reviews but in the future let's confine them to English for my own sake. From what I can tell you were busy with…something and…I think you liked the chapter? For what ever reason some words (like: Bom****, certeza, and coisas) didn't get translated so your actual meaning was sort of lost on me.**

**PurpleGirly: Mean/rude? Is that what I was implying…that you were implying? Because that's not what I thought at all. I thought that I was just over reacting to the lack of reviews and you (very sensibly) tried to calm me down. Again that must have been my diffidence coming up again. Maybe we both need to stop being so humble. It's starting to cause confusion. But anyway I'm glad you found my response amusing all the same. I've always tried to personally address every one who reviews my stories (which isn't hard when only one or two people do, it's starting to feel like a private conversation between you and me, but I guess that's not so bad) About the science thing (this is what I forgot to talk about): whenever I use anything scientific in one of my stories I always make sure to do some research first. Like the whole 'cellular solvent' thing in this story for example, I did some research into how cells function and the general nature of viruses and as far as I can tell everything checks out fine, but it's kind of what I think of as 'comic book science'. What I mean by that is that every thing sounds somewhat possible and sort of makes sense (if you the reader doesn't know much about science) so there is really no reason to argue with anything. It sounds right but could end up being completely absurd in the end. If anything I'm just hoping for 'Suspension of Disbelief' to kick in. I don't actually have any problem with the length of the story and certainly don't apologies. As long as the length is necessary than there is no problem. If a chapter needs to be 4000 words in order for it to work properly, than so be it. If anything it was just that the length startled me. And you asked for a "quick" read and a quick read of a 170000+-word story is still at least a five-day project…maybe even a week. Action junkie eh? That's…interesting (I sort of am too). Don't worry, I'll MAKE TIME…eventually. I always try and pay extra attention to the really important parts of chapters because any mistakes really take you out of the story and I want to avoid that.**

**Hmm…now what was it I was doing?…...Oh right! The chapter…**

**WARNING: THIS CHAPTER IS BASICALLY NOTHING BUT ROMANTIC FLUFF…just so you're aware.**

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Lexi slowly faded back to reality…or…was it reality? She couldn't really remember anything…except the shooting. She vividly remembered the shooting. After that things weren't very clear. Vague recollections of pain and a seemingly distant conversation were all that followed after the bullet had pierced her. The sights and sounds all seemed blurred, as if one moment was running into another. Lexi grew frustrated and decided to divert her attention away from remembering what had happened and instead focused on figuring out where she was. She first discerned that she was laying down on her back…only…something felt wrong. She could not feel any firm surface beneath her, and yet there was no falling sensation either. The whole thing was strange and somewhat unnerving. She ventured to open her eyes (which had been closed since she regained consciousness) and find out what was going on.

At first she could not determine if she had, in fact, opened her eyes or not, for all she saw at first was continued darkness. She quickly noticed that she was looking at something different. She was still surrounded by darkness but instead of the empty void that exists behind our eyelids this was a new kind of darkness. There were many columns of what looked like black smoke all around where she was. They were reminiscent of smoke due to the fact that they seemed to be continuously shifting and changing, forming different shapes and patterns, mixing with one another and then splitting apart again, organizing into almost recognizable symbols and then almost instantly reforming into strange, abstract silhouettes again. Watching the spectacle was both breathtaking and a little frightening. After staring at the weird and wonderful sight for some time Lexi remembered she was supposed to be figuring out where she was. First she looked down and confirmed that there was nothing underneath her, at least nothing she could see (she found it rather odd that even with the complete absence of any apparent light she was able to see everything perfectly). As she thought about all this a terrible thought entered her mind. "Am I…dead?" she questioned herself out loud. Her voice echoed slightly as it was the only noise in the area. Dread began to flood into her at the prospect of her own demise.

"No, your not." a rough yet calming voice said from behind her.

It only took Lexi a second to recognize the voice. "Shade?" she asked as she turned around to where she had heard the voice, and, sure enough, there was Shade. She saw he was dressed in his normal attire (only his cape seemed to be even more animated than it usually was since it was acting much like the other shadows she had observed earlier) and felt very relived to see him. "Shade…where are we?" she asked as her expression turned from relived to confused.

Shade approached her as he answered, "This is _Terra __Scura_*. The alternate plain of existence where I reside. Are you feeling alright?" he asked with only slightly concealed concern, his normally cold, dead eyes held some more life that usual.

"Yeah, I'm fine I guess." Lexi said as she felt around her body. She was still wearing her uniform...and it was still stained with her own blood, yet there was no pain anymore, and when she felt her abdomen there seemed to be no damage.

"Good. Just as I was expecting." Shade said. As he saw her looking quite confused he decided to try and explain things. "I brought you here when I saw you get shot. In this place, as I have realized over time, things are vastly different from the normal world. Here time slows a crawl, to the point where days here only amount to hours in the other world. There is also no injury here…no hunger or thirst…no pain…no light…just darkness and shadows."* Shade seemed to drift off into some internal thought for a moment, as if thinking about _Terra Scura _caused him to lose focus on the present. He shook his head slightly to bring his mind back to the conversation. "It provides a nice reprieve from the…stress my work puts on me some times."

"Yeah…I guess hunting down criminals all over the world would be a pretty demanding job at times." She tried to use humor to lighten some of the tension that seemed to be between them (though she could not for the life of he see why it was there), but she worried that it may have sounded more judgmental than any thing else. _Nice one Lexi, _she mentally scolded herself, _god that was stupid. You need to apologise._

He sighed and moved toward her, seemingly giving credence to her worries. But as she thought of a proper apology he sat next to her on…what ever it was that was holding them up. "Well…not just at times. Its all the time really, but that's unavoidable I guess. Maybe if I enjoyed it…it wouldn't bother me…but it does." He looked over at her and his eyes were visibly growing softer and his face becoming less emotionless. As he looked at her though Lexi could see him try and put a stop to this. _Stop it! Get a hold of your self you idiot._ "I'm sorry I…I shouldn't be telling you about things like that. I can tell it makes you uncomfortable."

"No Shade, I'm fine. I…I actually like it when you talk like that. When your not being so reserved…it's nice. I wish you'd do it more often." She said this as she stared at him, wishing he would turn his head back toward her so she could look into his eyes again. At first they seemed off putting, but now they were more alluring than anything else about him. Then again there was a lot of things that were attractive about him. Going beyond the superficial things like his appearance, something about who Shade was appealing to her. The way he had so much pain in his past and present combined with his constant struggle to contain it all for the good of all people. It was practically intoxicating for her.

Shade was avoiding looking at her. He couldn't look into her eyes because...he was afraid. Afraid of the feelings her eyes always stirred inside him. "I can't do that." he said, his voice losing its steady, monotone quality.

"Why? It would make it easier for people to get to know you…to get closer to you." she said softly, subconsciously inching nearer to him. She watched him intently and saw, what she thought, was his resistance was wearing down, and this caused her hope to rise steadily. Finally she could resist no longer.

"I…I just can't do that. When I get close to people it…it just ends badly...it always has. They get hurt…and I can't let that happen anymore." As he spoke images of his wife and other events and memories flashed before him, causing his twitch to go off. He brought his hand to his mouth to try and hide this. The pillars of shadows were increasing in their movements. Their forms altering at an even quicker rate...but this went unnoticed. _Just stop it! You can't let this happen. You know how this will have to end so just end it. _He removed his hand from his face and began to speak. "Lexi I...I can't..." Lexi put her hand on his arm and he could not think of anything else to say. They stared at each other, gazing into each others eyes. Bright, emerald green meeting pale, gray. Shade knew the look in her eyes...he remembered it from...her. She really did remind him of her. _Is that why I'm feeling like this? Am i...just trying to replace her?_ Lexi then began to move, almost entirely on instinct. She brought he face closer and to his. The shadows around them were nothing but fast moving blurs, becoming more and more restless every second. Closer and closer still Lexi crept forward, both entirely unsure of what she was doing and completely certain of her need to continuing, until finally…their lips connected. *

Shade did nothing to hinder her, but he still grappled with what accepting her feelings would mean._ I…I can't let her do this. _Shade thought frantically as Lexi kissed him passionately. _It won't end well…she'll get hurt or something will happen. It just won't work... _He was terrified now. All the memeories swirling in front of his eyes...so he closed them, and they slowed. Then stopped and began to fade away._..but...maybe...it can work...this time... _With that thought he finally, gently and fully embraced her. Ready to accept what ever came of it. The future was uncertain...or worse, compleatly certain, but that could wait. He was in the present now, so he should just be happy now and let come what may.

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**And scene. So…can I write romance? Tell me if not so I can save myself the embarrassment in the future. Plus just review because…it would be nice of you to do so. And I want to know if this worked…at all…in any way.**

***1: I decided to change the name of the world Shade lives in because the old one sounded really silly. This new at least makes more sense and it is actually two real words (Italian for 'dark earth'). And I did change it in the original chapter it first appeared in. And how do you feel about the chapter? How do you feel about this "pairing"? Tell me please!**

***2: Can I get any cornier?**

***3: Totally unnecessary ellipsis (I…love…unnecessary…ellipsis…don't…you…?)**

***Edit* I decided (with some prompting from PG) to tweak the story a bit and I'm happier now than I was. Any opinions from you people? Tell me what you think.**


	16. The Elusive Shadow

**Ch16: Hello. Actually not a lot to say right now...so…**

**PG: I hope the stuff I added made the chapter better than it was. I'm glad nobody is upset with the pairing (at least nobody that has said anything to me). I planed on writing a lot of stories containing romance in them so I'm glad to hear someone thought it was good.**

**And that's about it…so…Oh, I know! In case your wondering most of the stuff in this chapter is happening at the same time as stuff in the last chapter, so don't be thrown by that.**

**Now lets get to the ACTION PACKED CONCLUSION! Ok.**

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Ace watched as the Shade carried Lexi into the rift, a sort of numbness drifting over him, but he shook that off, and stood, with legs shaking slightly, and tried to clear his throat to speak. He had to show he was the leader of this team for a reason. "Ok. We still need to stop Josef before he gets to unleash that virus." He used as confident and steady a tone as he could muster. He knew he had to pull himself together, if only for the sake of his team.

"Well-I'm-pretty-sure-he-just-hopped-in-his-car-and-took-off-but-I'm-not-sure-where-he-would-be-going-at-a-time-like-this." Rev stated as he looked back into the garage and saw neither Josef nor the car inside and took note of the large hole in the garage door.

"He said that he needed water for the virus to work properly." Tech mused as he began to think on this new problem.

"So why not just pour it down the sink or something?" Duck asked a surprisingly good question.

"Its possible that the virus would have been killed during the purification process that sewer water goes thru. In order to ensure the maximum effectiveness of it he would probably want to introduce it directly into the water table, but where could he do that?" Tech thought out loud, his brow furrowed in concentration.

"Bay?" Slam suggested with a mixture of other incomprehensible grumbles.

After letting the idea sink in Tech's face brightened considerably. "Acmetropolis Bay! That's it Slam! If he were to release it there than it would be impossible to contain and would wreak all kinds of havoc on the planet."

"And-the-docks-aren't-too-far-from-here." Rev added.

"Then that's where we're going." Ace said. He moved over to the front door and exited the building, the others all following him. What they found outside was a scene of disarray, nearing chaos. Many of the assembled Acmetropolis Police officers were hastily running hither and thither*** **and shouting over each other. Ace saw a face he recognized amid the turmoil. It was Eli, leaning against a cop car with a smashed hood and side. For what ever reason several officers were buzzing around him and he appeared to be giving them orders. Ace decided to head over that way in order to better understand the situation. But first he turned to the others. "Go back to the ship and get ready for take off. I'm going to talk with the cops quick and tell them what we know." His four teammates all nodded and walked off toward the Super Sonic Transport.

Eli noticed Ace walking toward him and instructed some other officers to let him through. "Hello Ace. I guess things didn't go too well in there." he said with no humor present in his voice whatsoever. "Well things aren't so good out here either."

"What happened?" Ace asked. He saw that Eli's face was twisted slightly and he was sweating disspite the rather temperate temperature.

"That maniac plowed through a gap in our blockade just a minuet or two ago." Eli responded with less stiffness in his voice and more anger.

"Was anyone hurt?" Ace asked, as he grew a little concerned.

"Well the gap just so happened to be where Speck and I were talking. My legs broken but I'll be all right."

As Eli said this Ace looked down and saw that there was blood on his left pant leg along with a makeshift splint. _That would explain why he looks so bad, _he thought. But then something struck him. "What about Speck?"

Eli hesitated and his eyes darted to the ground. When they met Ace's again he said, "He's dead."

The statement hanged***** in the air. All the activity seemed to fade for a moment. Once again Ace felt the strange numbness entering him. But again he pushed it away. _Come on stop it! Get a hold of your self Ace. _He couldn't get emotional here at a time like this. _Why am upset about that anyway? I hated that guy. Whatever, I don't have time to think about that._ "I'm wasting time here." he said abruptly. "We think Josef is going to unleash his virus in bay so we're going to the docks." He quickly explained and Eli looked a little grateful to have the subject changed, but he still looked troubled. "Almost every cop in the area is here, and protocol says we have to search the house and the surrounding area for evidence. I'd go there myself, but as the new commissioner I have other responsibilities now." As he said the last part he smiled a little, and Ace smiled too. "I'll try to send backup when I can but you'd better get down there now."

"Right. Well good luck commissioner." Ace said as he turned to leave.

"Yeah, you too." Eli called after him.

After Ace left the cops began to swarm around Eli again, now Jay and Andy were among them. "Hey Eli are you sure we should let them go on their own?" Jay said with concern in his voice. He didn't like the situation they were in at all.

"What if they need help?" Andy added.

Eli looked at him and his smile grew a little. "I'm sure they'll be fine. For now we need to follow protocol."

"Since when have you been a stickler for protocol?" Jay asked sardonically.

"I'm the commissioner now Jay. I can't afford to ignore protocol anymore. And I also can't allow my subordinates to slack off. So you two get in that house and do your jobs." He said this with authority and a stern frown, but there was still the slightest hint of easiness in his tone as well. Jay rolled his eyes but smirked in spite of himself. Both he and Andy saluted and walked off. _I think I might like this job, _Eli thought as he watched his two friends walk off to do their duties…and several more officers began jockeying for his attention. _Yeah this will be great._

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In the super sonic jet things were even worse than when they had been on the ride out, because now everyone had something unpleasant to think about. Mostly their thoughts revolved around what had happened back at the mansion. The whole event weighed heavy on every ones minds, some more than others. Ace in particular was suffering intensely, the thoughts of worry and guilt quickly piling on his mind, and it was already beginning to crush the life out of him. All the 'what ifs' swirled around and tormented him, his stomach lurched and tied its self into knots even though the ride was very smooth._ God I hope she's all right. If she's not I…I'll…_he didn't really know how to finish that thought, but he was sure that nothing good would come from it. The images of Lexi holding her stomach and blood slowly covering her hand almost caused him to retch right there in the aircraft. He did his best to fight that since such an act would not look good to his team. They wouldn't think any less of him, but Ace still wanted to keep that from happening. His grip tightened on the controls until his knuckles turned the same pale white as the rest of his skin. He gradually increased the throttle until they were hurtling toward their destination at incredible speeds. _I just need to end this…and I'd better do it fast._He looked over to the on-board navigation computer***** and saw that they were nearing their destination. _I hope we're not too late._

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Joe sped to the docks as fast as his car would allow (which was around 120mph) so he arrived at his destination fairly quickly. He slowed the car to a stop a little ways away from the dock and parked it. _I imagine no one is going to interrupt me this time, so why not cherish the moment_, he thought as he got out and started casually strolling to the dock's edge. It was getting late in the afternoon already and the place was deserted. He pulled the vial from his pocket and looked it over once more. The liquid inside was a sickly lime green and completely clear. _Interesting how I'm holding the largest threat to the world in my hand…and it hardly seems so…hard to believe actually._ As he thought he couldn't help but let a smile creep across his face as he reveled in the feeling of holding the fate of the planet in his hand. The power that the object seemed to exude was intoxicating. _But lets not get to attached to it…for it will be gone in a minuet_, he reminded himself, for as he approached the water line he knew the power he held would soon be gone. But the consolation was that after that feeling left it would most likely be replaced with a satisfied feeling of a job well done. _Strange how so many people have tried and failed at conquering and destroying the world before me, and I've done it with little difficulty…_he paused for a second or two, _No. I'm not out to destroy the world. I'm making it a better place. Giving it a chance to start anew. As noble a cause as any…not that I really care. _As he finally reached the edge he peered down and saw the water a few feet below him, watched for a moment how the waves slowly, constantly lapped against the concrete walls. But as he stood there he heard a sound behind him. It was quiet and he could barely hear it. It was a strange cross of hissing and sizzling. He turned around slowly, grip tightening around the vial in his left hand and right reaching for his pistol, which had been stored in his right coat pocket. Once he had turned completely around he saw a dark line manifesting in mid air. It slowly grew and then gradually widened until two forms appeared through it. He inwardly let lose a string of curses but kept his outward appearance calm. "Well you are persistent aren't you. No hard feelings about before" he said as he gazed at Lexi and the man he recognized to be Shade. He wondered how she was alive at this point, let alone up and walking around, but that thought quickly passed as he turned his full attention to the man she was with. "And I don't think you and I have been properly introduced sir."

"No more games Josef. Your plan ends here." Shade said in a low, scratchy voice. He was truly in no mood for any tricks. If he had had his way, in fact, he would have just decinerate him there and then, but he remembered the conversation he had just moments ago with Lexi in _Terra __Scura..._

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"Are you sure you want to come? You could stay here while I deal with Josef." Shade said with a little concern as he and Lexi prepared to leave and face Josef again. Once he had had some time to think Shade had easily determined that the most logical thing for Joe to do with the virus.

"I can handle myself just fine, but thanks for your concern." She said as she smiled at him.

Shade wanted to press the issue further, but as he looked at her and her smile he couldn't seem to do it, so he dropped it. "All right, let's just end this before any permanent damage can be done."

Lexi's smile faded at his words. "Your going to kill him…aren't you." she asked with worry and dread evident in both her words and eyes.

"That was the idea." Shade replied casually (a little too casually for Lexi's liking).

"We might not have to do that." she said as she decreased the distance between them. She saw him wanting to protest so she put her hand on his arm and squeezed lightly, "If it comes to that then…fine, but just try talking to him first. Please…for me?" she pleaded as she saw the skeptical look on his face.

He tried to look away but found his gaze always drawn back to hers. "The man shot you…and you want me to reason with him?" He rolled his eyes and added, "women, always making things more complicated than they need to be." But then smiled the first full, genuine smile he had used in a long time. And she smiled in turn. "Fine. I'll try and talk him out of it, but I don't promises anything. Come on, time is of the essence." As he finished he opened a portal to where he thought Josef was and waited for her to move through it.

"Right…lets get this over with." Lexi replied with a little apprehension creeping over her.

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"Just give up Josef and nobody has to get hurt." Lexi stated as firmly as she was able to, but Josef looked to be less than impressed.

"You can't really think I'm going to just give up after all the work I've done do you?" he asked in a scoffing manner.

Shade had once again donned in impassive persona so he appeared as calm as Josef was when he replied, "There is no way for you to succeed. You can either walk off this dock and be arrested or…"

"Or you'll kill me. Yes I know how you operate, and I'm flattered you're giving me the choice, but I think you're wrong. In order for me to succeed all I really have to do is get the vial into the water." He said this as he slowly rolled the vial between his thumb and index finger, a confident, twisted, and chilling smile adorning his face.

_Well I tried_, Shade thought as he felt the urge to end this his way, but restrained himself. He observed Josef holding the pistol and had an idea. "Tell you what Josef…I'll give you a fighting chance." As he spoke Shade removed his hat, making sure all his movements were slow and deliberate so as to not case alarm in his opponent. He reached into the hat and felt for a small hole in the inner lining. Once he found it he pulled out a single black bullet. "I have one bullet," he said as he replaced the hat on his head, drew his gun and flicked it open to load the single cartridge into the weapon, "and we're going to settle this like men." He put his revolver back and waited for Josef to catch on to what he was implying.

Josef did catch on quickly. He brought his own pistol up and pulled the slide back, ejecting the cartridge that was in the chamber and making sure there was a fresh one in instead. Then with he activated a switch on the side of the gun that caused the clip to slide out and clatter loudly to the ground. Once this was done he deposited it into his coat pocket. "All right Shade…we'll do it your way."

Lexi had caught on too. "Wait Shade…" she prepared to plead with him but she was silenced when he looked over to her. The look conveyed the message of "trust me, I know what I'm doing." He waved his hand slightly and she backed away.

As one last bit of preparation he slowly reached into a pocket that was hidden on the inside of his shirt and quickly withdrew a small, golden object. It was his most valued possession, the one object he would never think of parting with and the one object he kept secret from everyone. He rarely took it out of its hiding place and never when anyone else was around, _but now it doesn't matter._ It was a watch. A small pocket watch which contained a small picture of…her, and an inscription on the back, but he dared not look at either, lest he lose his nerve at this critical moment. He exchanged it to his left hand as he said, "When the music stops…we fire." He pressed the small button at the top causing the spring-hinged circular metal cover to open. Once it did a soft song began to be played*****. It was slow and somber and haunting. If Josef or Lexi had been closer to him they might have noticed his eyes glazing over slightly, but still he focused on the task at hand.

So there they both stood, both with deadly weapons only loaded with one shot holstered and staring one another down, the dismal notes being emitted from the watch drifting over the both of them. Josef smiled even wider even as sweat began to form on his brow. His hand twitched ever so slightly over his gun. Shade's hand remained motionless, his gray eyes staring frozen daggers into Josef's heart. A sudden uneasiness came over him as the agonizingly long seconds slowly crawled by, and each passing moment was punctuated with the eerie tone sent forth by the watch. They skies above were dark but the sun was desperately battling with the clouds to shine through before it fully vanished for the day. The music's pace slowed to a crawl, each note ringing and echoing out, fading away just before the next was produced. Lexi wrung her hands nervously as the tension began to become overwhelming. She looked at the two men and felt a deep fear of the future. Josef's smile faded as the song went into its death throws, each note lingering longer and longer, his nerves frayed as he tried to remain ready, his now clammy hand twitching even more as he grew impatient. Finally the music stopped and two shots rang out.

Lexi found that her eyes had squeezed shut and she had covered her ears (as bet as she could). She opened them and looked at the two men. Both still stood ridged, rooted to their positions across from each other. They all worked out what had happened at their own pace, but it was universally understood soon enough. As it turns out it played out exactly how Shade had planned. They had drawn their weapons at roughly the same time and had both hit their mark, sort of. Josef had aimed for Shad's head, as he usually did, but was surprised to find it completely intact even though the bullet had indeed left his gun. The next thing he noticed was a dripping noise. Ice seemed to run through his veins as he thought of what that could mean. He surveyed his body quickly, but found no damage. _What the hell? _he thought as his confusion grew. He listened more closely to the dripping and tried to find where it was coming from. Terrible realization slowly overtook him as he raised his hand to his face. What he saw was the shattered remains of the vial that had contained his super weapon. He had been holding the bottle so that a small section of the bottom had been exposed. He opened his hand letting the shards of glass fall to the ground and it began to shake. His teeth clenched and his breathing became heavier and heavier until he finally let out a shout of anger and hatred. "Damn you…DAMN you! All my work and preparation…ruined!"

Shade was hardly moved by Josef's anger. "Yes Josef, your plan is ruined. So give yourself up and quit now." Then turning to Lexi he said (in a more melancholy manner than usual) "I can't afford to stick around for obvious reasons, but I trust you can handle him well enough Lexi."

"Sure thing. He's not going to get the drop on me this time." she said with confidence.

As she began to stride over toward Josef Shade walked in the other direction.

Josef was still fuming and close to losing it completely. "Fine! Arrest me! Take me to jail! I'll serve a few years if the jury is harsh, but I'll buy my way out of anything I get into." he said with malice and venom gushing forth.

Lexi rolled her eyes, not at all amused by this criminals raving. "Yeah right, quiet down and stay…" suddenly she felt an uneasiness in the air. The hair on her neck bristled slightly as a chilling wind blew past. She turned slowly to find Shade had stopped dead in his tracks after hearing Josef speak. At first she couldn't imagine why this had happened. She looked down and saw his fists clenched tightly. "Shade?" she asked but there was no response. He stood completely still and silent. Then a strange thing happened, smoke started rising from his shoulders. At first only small wisps but it quickly escalated to the point where it looked as if he was about to start on fire.

Shade remained silent as he felt all control slipping from his grasp. Josef's words had stirred something deep and foul in Shade. His twitch became violent as he struggled to hold down all the swirling feelings of anger and sadness, all the memories of her assaulted him, his control finally gave way. As he was consumed by the flames of anger inside and his outer appearance reacted in kind. Black flames replaced the smoke and grew larger, his cape now becoming wild and almost violent in its activity. He turned and revealed that his calm façade had been burned away and now his face was contorted with a vicious sneer, his eyes were now literally blazing with black fire as well. He began walking toward the two in front of him, a trail of fiery footprints following close behind him. "**Lexi…move.**" he said in an unearthly deep and rough voice. Lexi didn't dare to disobey so she quickly backed away from Josef, watching with terror and awe. Josef was genuinely terrified as well, because he realized it was him who had brought this about. He looked down and saw the clip he had ejected earlier and scrambled to grab it and load it back into his pistol. He managed to pick it up put it back into the gun. As he pulled the slide back to finish the loading process he glanced up and saw Shade was nearing where he was. He pointed the gun forward but Shade grabbed it with his burning hand and melted the gun. Josef let go due to the heat and tried to back up, only to realize he was at the waters edge and really had no where to go. He contemplated jumping in but was refused the option as Shade grabbed onto his shoulders and pulled him closer, the fabric of his suit immediately beginning to singe and burn. He looked into the orbs of fire that were Shade's eyes as he said in his spiteful and resounding voice, "**Your right Josef. You would get off easy…and I can't let that happen. You understand I'm sure.**" His words were almost as scorching as his touch and Josef began to shake uncontrollably. He felt the last bit of cloth that separated Shade's touch from his skin fade away. The black fire quickly spread throughout his whole body. The searing pain shooting all through him, the pain growing so intense he was unable to even scream. In seconds he was gone from where he had been.

As Lexi recalled this was like the first time she had seen Shade decinerate someone, only it was different, and far worse. There was no pile of ash this time and Josef looked to be in a lot of pain as oppose to just shock. After Josef had disappeared Shade's breathing became slower and the flames around him shrank away until they faded out of existence. Lexi was a little hesitant at first, but felt the need to approach him. "Shade…" she tried to place a comforting arm on his shoulder but he jerked away.

"No! Lexi just…no." he brought his hand to his face as he swallowed a lump in his throat, disgusted by what he had just done.

"Shade its not like this is the first time you've…" she tried to soothe him with her words but he refused them.

"This was different. He's not just gone, he…he is going to burn…forever. I've only done that one other time…and I never wanted to do it again." He became aware of the noise of aircraft engines landing not too far away and knew what was coming. "I can't be around you Lexi…I need to leave…for your sake." Before she could protest he bent down and pecked her on the cheek and walked into a portal he had summoned. He cast a weary glance back at her and left with what felt like a heavy weight attached to his heart.

Ace and the other guys ran over to Lexi as she stared at the space where Shade had been a second ago. Ace wanted nothing more then to wrap his arms around Lexi and make sure she was ok, but he got the feeling now was not the time for something like that. Still he needed to check how she was. "Lexi are you all right? What happened?"

"Where is Shade?" Tech asked a little suspiciously.

It took Lexi some time for the questions to get through her emotion-addled mind. "Shade took care of Josef…then he just left." she said with a sad and hurt expression on her face. She truly felt abandoned, even if she understood why he had left like he did.

"What's-that-in-your-hand?" Rev asked as he looked down and saw she was holding a small piece of paper. Once the question registered she slowly unfolded the crumpled parchment and looked at it. She held it out in front of he so all of them could read it as well. It said…

**Dear Loonatics,**

**If you're reading this than I'm gone and I probably didn't exactly say good-bye properly. I just want to say I truly am sorry for any trouble I caused you all. Ace, you can keep all those bullets you took from me. Maybe you'll get a chance to use them in the future, though I doubt that, but they won't start anyone on fire so relax and remember they are .357s, that's kind of important. Tech, I hope that in the future if we can't be friends, maybe we could settle for allies? I can only hope you'll find some way to forgive me for what had done to aggravate you so. Rev, remember that advice I gave you in the ally and keep yourself safe. I'd hate to see someone like you get hurt. Slam and Duck, well I thank you both for your hospitality and it was nice meeting you. And Lexi, well I think you know what I want to say. I'm moving on to another part of the city. I imagine there are places that need my attention more, and I think you can handle yourselves. In the future just remember two things: I do believe the is room for your kind and people like me, and whenever you here about me committing some crime, all I can say is there are no perfect men in the world, only perfect ideals. I want peace and safety for all and that is the only reason I do what I do.**

**So good-bye to you all. I'll try to not cause much trouble (but no promises).**

**Shade**

At that moment the clouds finally parted after all the days of darkness and cold. The sun shone through and was dazzling on the sparkling water, just before it sunk down below the horizon.

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**Ok, maybe it wasn't really "action packed" as I promised but it was dramatic right? And you know what's cool? **_**Todesengel**_**is actually real! Only they call them ****Lysozymes. Look it up. Isn't that awesome! Actually that's kind of scary to think about.**

***1: I've always wanted to use that.**

***2: I still don't know if that's right.**

***3: I would imagine they have something like that on board.**

***4: I'm not going into any more detail about what happened between those two. Fell free to use your imaginations though.**

***5: I think in this case we'll use "Sixty seconds to what?" here (which is the song at the end of "For A Few Dollars More").**

**So that's the end…or is it?**


	17. Foreshadeing

**Ch17**

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In the dark secluded street Shade stood, trying to recover from the previous engagement he had just come from no more than an hour ago. The whole event was still vividly playing back in his mind over and over again, the feelings of anger still licking at his mind while the despair still dominated. He took some deep breaths and this calmed him down some. He was preparing to think more carefully about what he was going to do in the near future, but then heard footsteps echoing down the street toward him. He regained more of his composure as he turned around to meet this person that intruded on his recuperation.

He saw it was a man of average height and build wearing a standard military uniform, a silver eagle adorning his patrol cap, and a black pistol on his hip. Much of his features were hidden due to the low lighting in the street they were in. "Hello. Am I correct in assuming that you're the man called Shade?" he asked in friendly, if not somewhat bland, tone.

"Yes, and you are?" Shade replied as he tensed slightly. _What does this GI Joe want with me? He better not try anything or…_he was a little surprised that his mind had jumped to the most violent outcome almost immediately.

He didn't think about what this meant, instead he stayed focused on the man in front of him. "Colonel Flagg. I sense you're a man whose time is valuable so I'll get right to the point. Your recent activities have caught the attention of my superiors, and I have been ordered to extend an invitation to you for you to join with us."

_An odd place for a job interview_, Shade thought as he closely scrutinized this Flagg character. Something about the way he stood and the hard look in his brown eyes made Shade not want to trust this man. His instincts told him to just leave, so he did. "Sorry Flagg," he said as he turned around and began walking away, "I'm not interested in the military. Too many rules."

Flagg frowned slightly as he said, "I wasn't talking about the military…Mr. Soldi." He saw Shade freeze in place. "Yes I know who you are. I think you'll find our organization is very good at obtaining information, and with someone with your skills in our ranks…I think we could work out an arrangement that benefits both of us." Flagg concluded his proposition with an air of coolness that seemed to have been stolen from Shade. They both stood, Shade facing away from Flagg, as the moments ticked by. Finally Flagg heard "I'm listening." from Shade. _Excellent_, Flagg thought as a smile grew across his face as a sign of victory.

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**And THAT'S the end of that. I would like to thank all of you for your patience and support throughout this story. I still encourage everyone to comment on this and all other chapters even though this story is done. I promise to read them and get back to you about your comments. I don't know when I'll be back. I was thinking of going back over this story and my first one and fixing all the mistakes before I start something else. Would that be something you all want to see? I would like to hear your input. In any case I should be gone for some time (but you can expect to hear from me soon PG (and thanks for your review too) ). So I guess there's nothing left to say but see you all next time. (And I'm sorry, but I couldn't resist with the title of this chapter)**


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